Epistological novels are a literary genre that takes the form of character letters for communication, originating from the Greek language and developing to include elements such as letters, news clippings, and diaries. Alice Monroe's "Hate, Friendship, Pursuit, Love, Marriage" is her representative work of late creation, in which letters are an important clue and narrative focus of the story. The story depicts the protagonist Joanna falling in love with a forged love letter and ultimately achieving a personal identity transformation, showcasing the important role of letters in driving plot development, revealing characters' personalities and psychology, and promoting interaction between readers and the text. The theory of epistolary novels explains the key role of forging love letters in changing the fate of characters from the aspects of creating suspense and irony, highlighting character contradictions, revealing character personalities and psychology from multiple perspectives, and stimulating the contrast and integration of character imagination and reality.

1、 Creating suspense and irony

In depth exploration of the role of suspense in literary works, particularly its application in Monroe's work "Hate, Friendship, Pursuit, Love, Marriage". Suspense stimulates readers' curiosity and sense of participation, drives plot development, and enhances the appeal of the story. In this work, suspense is mainly presented in two ways: readers have less knowledge of the plot than the characters, and readers have more knowledge of the plot than the characters, which often leads to dramatic irony. As a key element in constructing suspense, letters not only reveal the contradictions between characters, but also fill the narrative gaps, making the plot development more natural.

2、 Revealing the character's personality and psychology

In depth analysis of the role of letters in the novel "Hate, Friendship, Pursuit, Love, Marriage", especially how forged love letters reveal the characters' personalities and psychology. Letters, as a direct medium for expressing characters' thoughts and emotions, enhance the realism of the novel and allow for the interpretation of characters from multiple perspectives. Edith not only expressed Joanna's longing for friendship and love by forging love letters, but also revealed her complex psychology as a teenage writer. The characteristic of epistolary novels is that they can imitate real life and provide a multi-dimensional portrayal of characters' personalities and psychology. Edith's forgery reflects her sympathy for Joanna, her power game with Sabisa, and her own longing for loneliness, friendship, love, and the future. The forgery of love letters is not only a prank, but also reveals the resonance between Edith and Joanna in similar situations of marginalization and neglect. Edith's loneliness, curiosity about sex, and similarities with Joanna are all reflected in the forged love letter. As a "sketch of the soul," letters provide readers with a deeper understanding of a character's past, personality, psychological state, and interpersonal relationships.

3、 Comparison between the Imagined World and the Real World

Episodic narrative, through the displacement of geography and time and space, allows communicators to bring the past into the present without revealing reality, creating illusions of reality. This temporal and spatial difference confuses communicators with the past and present, creating dimensions higher than life, beautifying and exaggerating ordinary things. The time difference between letter writing and reception creates the illusion of emotional stability and sustained effectiveness, with communicators immersing themselves in strong emotions and indulging in daydreams about the future, which is a typical "letter fantasy".

4、 Conclusion

The story "Hate" unfolds through the fabrication of love letters and ultimately ends with marriage and the birth of Omar. Unlike traditional fairy tales, the protagonist is an older unmarried housekeeper. Edith not only played Joanna when forging love letters, but also expressed her emotions and showcased her creative talent. Monroe explored the role of letters in triggering emotional and psychological changes in characters and promoting identity reconstruction through epistolary novels.