Kim Purcell's Blog
April 13, 2018
This Is Not a Love Letter
It's almost three months since my second book This Is Not A Love Letter came out, and I'm so grateful people seem to be connecting to this story of my heart, a fictionalized account, based on the disappearance of a close friend in high school.
When my friend went missing, I started talking to him in my head, and everything, songs, running trails, his old house, triggered memories of him. So, this is why I wrote this story as an account that Jessie tells to her boyfriend, in her mind.
I hoped that anyone who's ever had someone drop out of their lives suddenly, due to a break-up, a death, a disappearance or some other reason, would relate to this.
In real life, we didn't know if it was a hate crime, or a suicide or if our friend had just taken off. Most of us felt that it was likely he'd been attacked down by the river, but the police didn't act quickly, and it was very frustrating. This felt like racism, even at the time, when people weren't talking about how police often don't take the disappearance of African-American kids seriously. This issue ties into my first book, Trafficked, in which kids of color and foreigners are at a much higher risk of being trafficked, and police do much less to find them.
In this book, I wanted to talk about white bias, white privilege, and racism, especially in an area where people don't see this in themselves or in their communities.
I also wanted to examine mental illness and its tsunami effect on the lives of everyone around the person suffering.
I hope you find this book connects to your heart and your own difficulties and that you feel less alone when you read it. I love to hear from readers. Please email me at kim@kimpurcell.com.
When my friend went missing, I started talking to him in my head, and everything, songs, running trails, his old house, triggered memories of him. So, this is why I wrote this story as an account that Jessie tells to her boyfriend, in her mind.
I hoped that anyone who's ever had someone drop out of their lives suddenly, due to a break-up, a death, a disappearance or some other reason, would relate to this.
In real life, we didn't know if it was a hate crime, or a suicide or if our friend had just taken off. Most of us felt that it was likely he'd been attacked down by the river, but the police didn't act quickly, and it was very frustrating. This felt like racism, even at the time, when people weren't talking about how police often don't take the disappearance of African-American kids seriously. This issue ties into my first book, Trafficked, in which kids of color and foreigners are at a much higher risk of being trafficked, and police do much less to find them.
In this book, I wanted to talk about white bias, white privilege, and racism, especially in an area where people don't see this in themselves or in their communities.
I also wanted to examine mental illness and its tsunami effect on the lives of everyone around the person suffering.
I hope you find this book connects to your heart and your own difficulties and that you feel less alone when you read it. I love to hear from readers. Please email me at kim@kimpurcell.com.
