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Royko in Love: Mike's Letters to Carol

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A couple of months after his first wife's death, columnist Mike Royko wrote a piece that commemorated her birthday. It was heartbreaking and moving in its simplicity and provided a small window into their relationship. This collection of letters from Mike (or Mick as he was then known) to Carol provides greater insite into their relationship as Mike (then an airman stationed in Blaine WA) begins his distant courtship of Carol in earnest through letters.
They were an unlikely couple. Carol was movie star beautiful with many suitors and Mike was an ordinary guy who loved her from afar from the time he was nine and she was six. The letters represented a slice of life from the perspective of Mike's military career and a snapshot of the '50's mixed with words of love that were so tender that they must have worked. Within a year, Mike and Carol were married and he received a transfer to the Chicago area and they hegan their married life together.
Their son assembled this collection and with mimimal narrative that serves as a point of reference lets this collection speak for itself. It was an interesting and affectionate read from a modern day Cyrano to his beloved it. I loved it because it was real chick stuff, but any faithful Royko reader would enjoy it as it gives the reader a look at Royko unedited.

You don't have to love Royko to love 'Royko in Love.' You don't even even have to know who he was. That's the beauty of Royko's words and the beauty of this terrific book. It's a great read from start to finish. It's a love story from Mike to Carol and from their son right back to his parents. These are vibrant, heartbreaking, funny, funny letters written by one of our nation's finest writers. Nobody tells a story like Royko. What a rare treat to read him telling the toughest, and softest, story of all -- his own.

I just fell in love with this book. I couldn't put it down. You can feel the love, the desperation, the longing, the frustration...all of it. I don't know Mike Royko as a writer but this book touched me. I enjoyed every moment of it. Knowing these people really existed, that that kind of love really exists just made this book all the more interesting and enjoyable to read. It is the most romantic book I have ever read.

I've been a fan of Royko's since I was nine years old and delivering the Chicago Daily News. This is a collection of love letters written before he became the famous everyman columnist, but his gift for irreverence and comedy is clearly evident, as is the softness behind his gruff exterior. Even if you know nothing of the man or his newspaper columns, you will find a beautiful and human love story that shows glimpses of what drives men to be more than what they think they can be.

Although he had columns in other Chicago papers, my overwhelming memory of reading Royko was in the Daily News. It was an afternoon paper, and I'd pick up a copy at Union Station for the commute home. I remembered his references to his first wife, and was delighted at the publication of his love letters to Carol. Long before he started on his literary career, he was already versed in the love of the written word. His satiric wit was also evident in his accounts of life at an Air Force Base in rural Washington in the early 50's. But the real story is Mike's love for Carol. I really felt his frustration at their long separations, and felt hugely relieved when his transfer to Chicago's O'Hare field came through. Many thanks to David Royko for editing this collection.

Mike Royko's fans knew him as a street-smart, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist, full of strong opinions and never afraid to voice them. Who knew he had once been an intimidated 21-year-old, head-over-heels in love and full of insecurities?

I grew up reading Mike Royko because my parents were huge fans. But this book offers a glimpse into a softer side I hadn't seen in his columns, although it's certainly captured in the "November Farewell" column in the book's prologue. A treasure trove of love letters, the book tells the story of Mike's growing devotion to Carol and through its publication, also serves as David Royko's love note to his parents.

"Royko in Love: Mike's Letters to Carol" is an extraordinary collection of Mike Royko's writings for his first audience - his future wife Carol. My thanks to his son David for sharing them with us.

Jenny Schade