Ava Dellaira – författare

For fans of Kathleen Glasgow and Amber Smith, Ava Dellaira writes about grief, love, and family with a haunting and often heartbreaking beauty in this emotionally stirring, critically acclaimed debut novel.

The author of the beloved Love Letters to the Dead returns with a parallel story of a mother and daughter each at age seventeen. Marilyn's tale recounts the summer she fell in love and set out on her own path. Angie's story is about her search for her unknown father.

Sometimes the best letters are the ones that go unansweredIt 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).

"I will be thinking about this book for a long time." -Sally Hepworth, author of Darling GirlsThe shocking, unforgettable novel that Junot Daz called "searingly brilliant," now with an exclusive bonus chapter, enhanced discussion guide, and a conversation with the author, Ava Dellaira.GRIEF IS LIKE THIS . . .Falling in love with your best friend, only to lose her to a mysterious death.Working for decades to achieve a dream, and just when it's within reach, watching it threaten to go up in flames.Rushing home to the city you fled years ago to witness your father's last breaths.Spending the first sleepless months in the throes of new motherhood alone, as your husband struggles to save his career.Befriending the woman who should be your enemy, because you are that lonely . . .Annie, Jesse, Noah, and Juliette are tied together by their experiences of grief; they are separated by their own versions of the truth of what happened on a single night twelve years ago, when Juliette, a college freshman grieving her mother, and Noah, a high school senior fighting for a place in a world that told him he didn't matter, found each other. Spanning decades, this complex, captivating story pulls back the curtains of cancel culture to explore ambition, empathy, art, desire, consent, motherhood, and what it really means to lose everything.