His grandparents met for a 1-hour date during WWII, then his grandmother was shipped out — now he's turning their love letters into a viral book

So she wrote him a letter.

What followed was a wartime romance that played out across thousands of miles and more than 150 handwritten letters. Decades later, their grandson, Drew Coyle, discovered the family’s archive and began sharing the love story online.

“I found [the letters] at the same age my grandmother was when she wrote them and I instantly connected with her,” Coyle writes on the book’s website. “At the age of 31, she had never been in love. She felt like an outlier with a slanted view of the universe who would never experience life’s greatest adventure.”

But she did — and her adventure “following a fateful one-night rendezvous” has since gone on to inspire the thousands of people following along with Coyle’s videos.

“Each letter was written during a shared coffee hour where they would sit and write letters at the same time every day, thousands of miles away, and dream of a reunion,” Coyle writes.

Now, their coffee-hour letters have become a coffee-table book, which Coyle says “seemed best.”

A shoebox of letters became a viral story

According to the book’s website, Helen joined the Red Cross in 1944 and, during the 12 months following her first meeting with Bill, exchanged more than 150 love letters with the naval lieutenant.

“Although they had only spent an hour together on a blind date, a bond quickly grew into a love that would last a lifetime,” Coyle told Newsweek. “Helen’s innocent act to initiate correspondence caused a ripple effect that would change not only their lives, but lead to me.”

The surviving correspondence includes intimate details of their lives apart, including one letter containing a hand-drawn map showing Bill how to find Helen on the island where she was stationed.

Coyle even discovered that the couple shared their first “I love you’s,” unknowingly, at the exact same point in time.

He began sharing the letters and his family’s story on TikTok and Instagram, giving viewers a glimpse into his grandparent’s whirlwind love story. He then went on to spend 18 months working with his father’s help to transcribe the letters, illustrate the story and turn the material into a book.

Coyle’s social media following became an important piece to the project’s finances. In 2025, he began offering preorders to them to demonstrate that there was an audience actually interested in seeing Helen and Bill’s story published.

“Helen felt as if the only person who understood her was Bill — but, now, the world has an opportunity to see Helen for who she is, and witness her beauty that shines through her writing,” Coyle told Newsweek. “Each preorder purchase helps show there is an army who wants Helen and Bill’s love story to be shared. We are in this together!”

The $60 book turned family history into a business

Flash forward, and My Darling: A True WWII Love Story is now a premium hardcover coffee-table book containing more than 150 real WWII love letters, more than 100 watercolor illustrations and scans of the couple’s original correspondence.