Love Letters To The Dead

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more -- though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was -- lovely and amazing and deeply flawed -- can she begin to discover her own path in this stunning debut from Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead.

When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister's mysterious death, her mother's departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.

Sometimes the best letters are the ones that go unanswered It begins as an assignment for English class: write a letter to a dead person - any dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain - he died young, and so did Laurel's sister May - so maybe he'll understand a bit of what Laurel is going through. Soon Laurel is writing letters to lots of dead people - Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart... it's like she can't stop. And she'd certainly never dream of handing them in to her teacher. She writes about what it's like going to a new high school, meeting new friends, falling in love for the first time - and how her family has shattered since May died. But much as Laurel might find writing the letters cathartic, she can't keep real life out forever. The ghosts of her past won't be contained between the lines of a page, and she will have to come to terms with growing up, the agony of losing a beloved sister, and the realisation that only you can shape your destiny. A lyrical, haunting and stunning debut from the protégé of Stephen Chbosky (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER).

Summer has begun, the beach is calling . . . . . . but Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca’s little brother, Simon, drowned when she should have been watching. Now she is about to turn sixteen, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend is moving on—with the boy Francesca secretly wants—and her father may be having an affair. Then Francesca begins babysitting Frankie Sky, a four-year-old who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon. She even wonders if Frankie could be Simon’s reincarnation. Their surprising friendship helps Francesca think she might begin to forgive herself, grow up, and even fall in love, whether or not she solves the riddle of Frankie Sky. “Resonates with real feeling.” —The New York Times Book Review “Haunting, heart-lifting, and impossible to put down.” —A. S. King, author of Please Ignore Vera Dietz “A beautiful story of heartbreak and hope.” —Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds

This sweeping multi-generational love story introduces readers to mother-and-daughter pair Marilyn and Angie. To seventeen-year-old Angie, who is mixed-race, Marilyn is her hardworking, devoted white single mother. But Marilyn was once young, too. When Marilyn was seventeen, she fell in love with Angie's father, James, who was African-American. But Angie's never met him, and Marilyn has always told her he died before she was born. When Angie discovers evidence of an uncle she's never met she starts to wonder: What if her dad is still alive, too? So she sets off on a journey to find him, hitching a ride to LA from her home in New Mexico with her ex-boyfriend, Sam. Along the way, she uncovers some hard truths about herself, her mother, and what truly happened to her father.

“Honest and moving . . . Her painful tale is engrossing.”—Washington Post Book World For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager addicted to drugs, violence, and easy sex, a daughter completely out of control—who almost destroyed her parents’ marriage and the happiness of the rest of her family.

The word miscarriage, in today's culture, is a dirty wordrarely discussed and grossly misunderstood. Yet, one out of four pregnancies ends in this tragedy. Where are these women, Samantha wondered, after her miscarriage? Slowly, quietly, women began to approach her, but, Ive had a miscarriage too, was all they could offer. Samantha realized that she had unwittingly become a member in an underground, secret society of women who suffer alone in silence. Love Letters is the story of her journey, the same journey that each mother who miscarries begrudgingly embarks onthe excitement of pregnancy, the overwhelming, unfathomable devastation and loss, the grotesque details that no one speaks of, the uphill road toward hope and freedomand the Savior who walks beside her every step of the way. Though she stumbles, she will not fall, for the Lord upholds her with His right hand (Psalm 37:24).

Download the first five chapters of LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD by Ava Dellaira. It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more-though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. This luminous debut novel has garnered exhuberant pre-publication praise from Laurie Halse Anderson, Jay Asher, Gayle Forman, and Lauren Myracle, and foreign rights have sold to six countries.