Let No One Weep for Me: Stories of Love and Loss

by Melanie S. Hatter, Christopher Darden (Illustrator)

In these 15 poignant stories, Melanie S. Hatter explores the tenuous hold we have on those we love, the heartache of loss, and the peace of self-discovery. The characters make their way through an often confusing world. They grapple with the complex nature of relationships and struggle to understand their place in such roles as wife, husband, lover, mother, daughter.

The collection opens with “Things We Cherish,” where a couple welcomes into their home the woman’s ex-husband who is dying from cancer. “Like the Geese” tells the story of a woman who, while mourning the loss of her husband, discovers she can fly. In “Something Worth Saving,” a woman struggles with the aftermath of a terrifying abduction. “Taking the Shot” takes place in the jungles of Colombia where an unlikely love is formed between a hostage and her captor. “Cornbread,” explores a daughter’s struggles to understand her mother’s increasing dementia, and in “Nikki,” an abused wife is inspired by a stranger she meets in a corner store.

“Melanie Hatter is an adept seer in the manner of Marita Golden and Maxine Clair. Her catchy stories play out in the shadowbox of the heart — familial dramas loaded with emotional spunk and live wires that spit and short out in a burst of fireworks. She plunks us down among generations of women trapped in the fantasy of happily ever, their damaged goods men, their family problems, their schemes, and their despair. These spirited characters, kidnappings, betrayals, obsessions, and losses, resonate long after you close this spectacular book.” – Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine

“Melanie Hatter is a sensitive soul who writes about love and loss with her whole heart.” – Donna Britt, journalist and author of “Brothers (& me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving”

170 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 7, 2015

About the author

Melanie S. Hatter is the author of two novels and one short story collection. Selected by Edwidge Danticat, Malawi's Sisters won the inaugural Kimbilio National Fiction Prize and is published by Four Way Books, 2019. The Color of My Soul won the 2011 Washington Writers' Publishing House Fiction Prize, and Let No One Weep for Me, Stories of Love and Loss was released in 2014. Her short stories have appeared in The Whistling Fire, Defying Gravity, TimBookTu and Diverse Voices Quarterly. She was a runner-up winner in the Fiction category of the 2015 and 2016 Montgomery Writes contests sponsored by the Maryland Writers' Association.

She is a participating author with the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program in Washington, D.C., and serves on the board of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation. Melanie received a bachelor's degree in mass media arts from Hampton University and a master's in writing from Johns Hopkins University. She has a background in journalism and corporate communications. For more information, visit http://www.melanieshatter.com.

Reviews

[Terez Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a powerful collection of stories. Both gorgeous and painful to read. Am halfway through the collection and looking forward to reading more, in that way you think about digging into that half-eaten bittersweet chocolate bar tucked into your pantry for an after dinner treat. Melanie Hatter's got a writing style that's literary, elegant, and yet never bogs the reader down with too much description or dense prose. Instead, you're quickly sucked into the characters' worlds. This is a collection of stories worth checking out.

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of short stories - sad but beautiful.