AUTHOR
MIMI AND MAURICE
“. . . a moving novel based on a true-life tale of love and sacrifice . . . a touching portrait of the pain of war and two people who loved each other despite all the obstacles.”
—BLUE INK REVIEWS
WWII historical fiction, based on a true story, epistolary framing, a love sustained across distance and silence
LAUNCHING
SEPTEMBER 8, 2026
FAQ
What is it about?
In 1936, Mimi begins writing to Maurice, a distant cousin she’s never met, who settles the estates of Europeans who die far from home in the Belgian Congo. Their correspondence—three hundred and eighty-two letters—carries them through a life in letters, including the years of World War II.
What genre is it?
Historical, literary fiction.
Is it based on a true story?
Yes. The letters exist and tell their story. Maurice’s are the only ones to survive, and so the detail of who they are became the fiction, but the love story is real.
Does the story take place during WWII?
It opens in 1936, before the war, and follows the letters through 1947—so the war is central to the story but not the whole of it.
Is it connected to Jo Taylor's other novels?
No, it stands alone, and it’s a deliberate departure from Taylor’s Southern-set fiction—this one moves between 1930s–’40s San Francisco, the Belgian Congo, and WWII Belgium—though it shares the same interest in memory, distance, and the interior lives of women.
What formats are available?
Hardcover, Paperback, and eBook.
“. . . polished to perfection.”
—REEDSY DISCOVERY
“. . . a moving novel based on a true-life tale of love and sacrifice . . . a touching portrait of the pain of war and two people who loved each other despite all the obstacles.”
—BLUE INK REVIEWS
Road Clothes Press | September 8, 2026 | 386 pgs
Between San Francisco and Belgian Congo, between war and silence . . .
It is 1936. Mimi lives in San Francisco, in a house she shares with her father and sister, writing letters to Maurice—a distant cousin she has never met. Maurice is in Belgian Congo, settling the estates of Europeans who die far from home. They have no shared memories, only paper, ink, and the weeks it takes a letter to arrive.
They write. For years. Three hundred and eighty-two letters survive.
Between us, an ocean, two continents, and the stubborn mathematics of distance. Marry me, Mimi. It’s all I want.
They become engaged and are set to meet in Belgium in May of 1940. Then the war comes. Maurice vanishes into the Resistance—imprisoned, interrogated, forced into an irrevocable choice. At home, Mimi endures years of silence and uncertainty, learning photography— Maurice’s great passion—to see the world through his eyes while waiting for letters that never arrive.
Drawn from their real correspondence, Mimi and Maurice is the story of a love written in full—and of what survives the silence.