For some readers—myself included—there are certain authors whose name alone will guarantee a new book is read. For some, it’s a series or a favorite time setting. For me, it’s a specific type of narrative: the epistolary novel.

A story told in notes, letters, diary entries, or the like holds a very special spot in my reader’s heart. From 84 Charing Cross Road and Letters from Skye, to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Homeland, I don’t recall ever encountering an epistolary novel that I haven’t deeply enjoyed. The Secret Astronomers is the latest title in that far-too-short list.

Copernicus has recently moved across the country—from San Francisco to West Virginia—after the death of her mother. She despises the vast cultural differences and is counting down the days until she can escape. Her one hope is looking for the secrets her late mom may have left behind in the small town of Green Bank before she made her own escape.

Copernicus has a single clue: to find the oldest book in the Green Bank Library. When she does, Copernicus begins writing to her late mom, using the pages of a long-forgotten astronomy textbook as a journal, scrapbook, and artist’s pad.

And then someone writes back.

Kepler has sought out the same book in order to bolster her own efforts to leave Green Bank—studying and preparing for school and her college application essay. Annoyed by the destruction of library property—especially the one item she needs—her request for Copernicus to stop using the book as a journal sparks an unlikely correspondence and an even more unlikely friendship.

I was quickly pulled into this YA novel, reveling in the relationship that unfolded like handwritten letters pulled from envelopes. The perfect read for a relaxing afternoon.