The Last Love Note is a work of romantic women’s fiction published in 2023, the first adult novel by Australian author Emma Grey. Weaving flashbacks into the present action, the book follows the emotional journey of Kate Whittaker, a 40-year-old widow, as a weekend diversion presses her to realize what she feels for her boss, who has been there for Kate through the loss of her husband to Alzheimer’s disease. The work contains elements of romantic comedy but is largely an examination of Different Kinds of Grief and Bereavement, Motherhood and Parenting, and the importance of Attraction and Romantic Love. The book received several nods, was an Indie Next Pick, a Book of the Month Selection and Book of the Year Nominee, and garnered a Noteworthy mention in the Washington Post.

This guide refers to the 2023 Zibby Books trade paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss infertility and miscarriage, the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, brief suicidal ideation, and assisted suicide. 

Plot Summary

Two years before the story opens, Kate is shopping in the supermarket and becomes overwhelmed with grief as she contemplates her widowhood, her young son, Charlie, whom she must now raise alone, and the fact that her husband, Cam, no longer exists.

Two years later, while her best friend, Grace, watches a new neighbor move in, Charlie, now five, finds a grenade in his father’s office. Kate has been unable to discard anything of Cam’s, including the notes he taped around the house identifying everyday objects. As the new neighbor, Justin, knocks on Kate’s door and the constabulary arrives to deal with the grenade, Kate’s boss, Hugh, also shows up, and Kate concludes that her life is a complete mess.

The next morning, when Kate’s car won’t start, Justin gives Kate a ride to the airport on his motorcycle. The exhilaration of the drive makes Kate feel alive for the first time in a long while. She is flattered to catch Hugh looking at her as a desirable woman, not the distressed co-worker he is constantly bailing out, and she leans on Hugh for support when their flight experiences turbulence.

Hugh has proven a strong emotional support to Kate since the moment she met him, which is described at the beginning of the novel in a series of flashbacks. Kate was struggling to nurse her one-year-old son, Charlie, with whom she’d experienced a difficult process of IVF, pregnancy, and childbirth. When Kate’s breasts began leaking at the gym, a man (Hugh) loaned her his rugby shirt. Hugh turned out to be in charge of the fundraising program at the university where Kate’s husband was a respected professor of medieval literature and where Kate was interviewing for a job. Hugh was supportive when Kate realized she was pregnant again. A few weeks later, Cam crashed their car after Kate’s ultrasound, and doctors at the hospital diagnosed his recent cognitive decline as early- and rapid-onset Alzheimer’s. Hugh showed up to drive Kate home, offer moral support, and make sure she could keep her job.

Hugh was a source of support again when Kate miscarried at work and needed a ride to the doctor. Kate confided in Hugh about Cam’s diagnosis and was glad to see the two men become friends. Cam reminded Kate that he loved her but asked that, if she were to find love again, she wouldn’t run from it. Kate felt like Cam was the only one for her and she could never love again.

Back in the novel’s present day, Kate’s plane is diverted to a tourist town on the coast, where Hugh and Kate are given a beach cottage for the weekend. Freed from her responsibilities of raising Charlie, Kate is finally able to grieve, fully and openly. She feels soothed when Hugh sits with her as she weeps, but she also feels the stirrings of attraction for him. She wonders if she is ready to start to come alive again, but she’s not certain she’s ready to love again. A flashback chapter describes an event where Kate dressed up and felt connected to Hugh as they worked on their common project. Back then, Hugh assured Kate that, when the time came, she would be able to take the risk to love again.

As she struggles with the possibility of loving and losing again, Kate wonders who broke Hugh’s heart, as she hasn’t seen him engage in a romantic relationship. She remembers that, as he grew increasingly ill, Cam asked Hugh for something, and Hugh eventually did not fulfill the request. As she watches the sun rise on the beach with Hugh, Kate realizes she can trust Hugh, and that he has feelings for her. When they meet a friend of Hugh’s who asks Kate if Hugh has told her about Genevieve, Kate realizes this must be the woman in his past.

Kate attends the writing festival, and Hugh reveals Genevieve was a woman he loved and wanted to marry, but she got sick and died. Kate feels increasingly connected to Hugh, knowing that he too has lost someone. Hugh can’t tell her what he and Cam quarreled about, and Kate is convinced this secret means they could never have a relationship. She kisses Hugh on the beach in the rain and realizes that she could love him, but she also wants time to live her life and discover who she is without Cam.

Kate quits her job and sells her house, clearing out the notes left by Cam, finally coming to terms with his loss and the possibility that she can still have a life. She travels the world with Charlie and starts to feel more in charge of her life and in touch with her own wishes. She goes to Norway to see the northern lights, the item at the top of her bucket list, and while there, finds a last set of Cam’s notes in her coat pocket. The notes reveal that Cam’s final request to Hugh was that Hugh assist his death by suicide. Eager to reconcile with Hugh, Kate surprises him at a conference in Tasmania and clears the air between them; Hugh confirms that he was unable to fulfill Cam’s wishes because he knew that Kate would want as much time with Cam as possible. Hugh proposes to Kate. The epilogue shows their new family four years later, which includes a child together, whom they have named Camryn Genevieve, as well as Charlie and Hugh’s daughter with Genevieve. Kate is a published author in love with her husband, and she knows that her love for Cam will always endure.