Before internet chat rooms, Facebook, or OkCupid there was ― the telegraph. In this 19th-century bestseller, two young telegraph operators meet "over the wire" and begin a romance, sight unseen, using Morse code as their secret language of love. Written in a remarkably modern voice, this charming tale offers both an authentic glimpse of Victorian society and a prescient view of online friendships. Nattie, known as "N," has no idea at first whether "C" is a man or a woman. While she becomes increasingly interested in her correspondent, she finds plenty to occupy herself with among the other young people at her boarding house — Cyn, the singer; Jo, an artist; and awkward Quimby, who has a crush on Nattie. But her thoughts always return to her invisible friend. If only, she thinks, they could have "something to carry in their pockets, so when they are far away from each other and pine for a sound of 'that beloved voice,' they will only have to take up this electrical apparatus, put it to their ears, and be happy." Readers will delight in the similarities and differences between courtship in the 1880s and modern romance.

I. Sounds from a Distant "C"