Luis and Laura, an Argentine couple looking for a new beginning, settle in France, connected to their former home only through occasional letters from Luis’s mother in Buenos Aires. But when a name from the past appears in an otherwise unremarkable letter, it comes with a dark shadow. What emerges is a psychological study of grief swirling with guilt, equal parts love-triangle and ghost story. “Letters from Mom” is one of Julio Cortázar’s most beloved short stories, part of the same collection (Las armas secretas) that gave us “Blow-up” and “At Your Service”. It is translated here into English for the first time.