Love After Divorce

A NEW COLLECTION OF LETTERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE BELOVED I LOVE LUCY STARS REVEALS THEIR ENDURING BOND—EVEN AFTER MARRYING OTHER PEOPLE

- VIRGINIA CHAMLEE

Ball and Arnaz played newlyweds in the 1953 film The Long, Long Trailer, 13 years after meeting on the set of 1940's Too Many Girls.

As much as the world loved them as Ricky Ricardo and Lucy McGillicuddy Ricardo, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball were not those people. “But the people they were, were absolutely fascinating,” writes Lucie Arnaz in her new book Lucy & Desi: The Love Letters, out Nov. 4. Lucie, 74, the oldest child of the powerhouse duo, was born in 1951, just weeks before the debut of her parents’ beloved sitcom I Love Lucy. The show, which revolved around a zany middle-class housewife (Ball) and her showbiz husband, Ricky (Arnaz), revolutionized TV, as Ball’s groundbreaking leading lady and the Cuban American Arnaz brought a then-rare diversity to prime-time television.