"Royko in Love"

Beloved newspaper columnist Mike Royko wooed his wife the same way he won over Chicagoans: through his earnest, personable writing. While Royko was stationed at a Washington Air Force base after serving in the Korean War, he penned fervent love letters (and even doodles, pictured here) to his childhood sweetheart Carol Duckman. The newly released book Royko in Love compiles the achingly tender, rarely seen correspondences of a man who once claimed Cyrano de Bergerac as his hero. “Hearing your voice nearly caused the telephone to melt in my hand,” writes Royko in one letter. “I’ve read your letter until the ink has practically worn off,” he says in another. It’s not hard to see why one day, one of Royko’s most cherished pieces of writing would be “November Farewell,” a tribute to his better half. $24, University of Chicago Press.

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