Billet Doux

In the tiny, sleepy town of Gibbon, Nebraska, a Halloween party was being held.  At the party, Emily Hartley–a hometown girl, recently returned from college–met Charlie Lennox, a handsome young man from Chicago.  Charlie had inherited Blackthorn Manor, an old, dilapidated mansion in which a ghost was rumored to dwell.  Together, Emily and Charlie explored the house. You’ll be surprised to learn wh...

While imprisoned in Reading Gaol for the crime of gross indecency, Oscar Wilde wrote a letter to his friend and lover, Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (1897).  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, or a tale of romance you want to be told, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com.  If you’re struggling to find the words with...

The love story of Rafiq Ahmed and Radha Menon (1965)  “If my family finds out what I’ve been up to, they’ll never forgive me. I’ll be disowned!”  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, or a tale of romance you want to be told, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com.  If you’re struggling to find the words with which to s...

The love story of Alejandro Moreno and Yelitza Rodriguez (2024)  “There is only one audience for whom I wish to play, and she is right here”.  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com .  If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, reach ou...

A story of the romance between Erik Svensson and Katya Ivanova (AD 823):  Erik Svensson, a young Viking from Sweden, joined his warlord father on a mission to cross the Baltic Sea and invade the mainland of Russia.  While there, he met and fell in love with Katya Ivanova, a beautiful daughter of the enemy.   If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all th...

Ludwig van Beethoven’s billet-doux to Antonie Brentano (1812):  “I must live either wholly with you, or not at all”.  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com .  If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, reach out to me at billetdouxu@gm...

A story of the romance between Rafael Pérez and Renée Trumbull (2024).  Renée Trumbull, a Canadian gymnast, and Rafael Pérez, a Spanish swimmer, qualified to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.  One bright July morning, while walking through the Olympic Village, they met.  Over the course of the next few weeks together at the Games, they fell in love.  If you have a love letter that you’...

The love story of Kenji Matsumoto and Li Mei (1937):  Kenji Matsumoto, a young soldier conscripted to the JAPANESE imperial army, was taken from his university and stationed outside Yan’an.  While patrolling the countryside, he met a beautiful CHINESE peasant girl by the name of Li Mei.  Between them, under the cover of darkness, a forbidden love was forged.  If you have a love letter that you’d l...

Michelangelo’s billet-doux to Tommaso de Cavalieri (1533):  “Perhaps you said this to try me, or to rekindle a greater flame in me, if it were possible. Whichever it is, I know for sure that I’ll forget your name the day I forget the food I live on ; in fact, I could sooner forget my food, which nourishes only the body, than your name, which nourishes body and soul, and fills both with such sweetn...

A touching exchange of billets-doux between Heloïse and Peter Abèlard (12th century).  “Every wife, every young girl desired you in your absence and was on fire in your presence; queens and great ladies envied me my joys and my bed”.  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com .  If you’re strug...

A beautiful billet-doux sent from Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway (1786).  “Friendship is precious not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and, thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine”.  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com .  If you’...

A beautiful love story, written by Hector Berlioz for Harriet Smithson (1865).  “A plan began to take shape in my mind: Harriet Smithson should hear of me! She should know that I also was an artist!”  If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com .  If you’re struggling to find the words with which...

Welcome to Billet Doux , a show about literature and love.  On this show, dear friend–than which you’ll not find another lovelier, nor sweeter–we’ll read some of the most arrestingly beautiful love letters ever to have been penned.  Letters written by, to take just a few noteworthy examples : Michelangelo, Beethoven, Elizabeth Taylor, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Shakespeare, Nancy Reagan, and Oscar Wilde...