On a dreary September morning, Dave Sanders’s life turns upside down when his missing son, Eli, appears on his doorstep. Missing for fourteen years, Eli’s reappearance forces Dave to re-live the moment his wife ran off with their son, and abandoned their daughter, Abby. As Dave navigates both his and Abby’s resurgence of grief, the questions as to why his wife left and where she is now resurface, and Eli’s reappearance isn’t the only surprise in store for him.Abby has forgotten much about her baby brother. He was nothing more than a bald head and baby giggle when their mother chose to take him with her and leave Abby behind. For most of her life, Abby has been angry at her mother and all of the milestones she’s had to navigate without her—buying her first bra, learning how to use makeup, her first kiss—milestones that were meant to be between mothers and daughters, tainted. Now, with the tragic news that Eli brings with him, Abby has the choice to let the anger within her fester or to finally make peace with what is in the past.A story of love, hope, and heartache, Letters to Abby follows Dave and Abby as they rebuild their family after post-partum depression tears it apart.
This is one of those books where I have changed my rating twice and have started to write a review then erased it more than once! This is because the story got to me and I have to remember that it is fiction and the characters are not real. But upon reading this book, I felt my emotions getting the best of me and that is what a books is suppose to do! As for the characters and the story. Ronnie was nothing short of a selfish human being even if she did suffer from mental illness. Her illness did not stop her from having a job, a home and raising her 2 other children. Yet she left her parents, husband and oldest daughter not knowing if she and Eli were alive or dead. Ronnie had more than enough ample opportunities to let them know that they were alive. She also had ample opportunities to let Abby know that everything was not her fault , in which Abby went through thinking. What Abby found and read after the fact does not change the fact that she was an afterthought in Ronnie's life. Ronnie was also selfish for not letting Eli and Lisa truly know their Father and oldest sister throughout their growing years. As well as the Grandparents, her parents. Then to take her own life and to leave her son and daughter that she raised to their Father and sister was nothing short of self centered. Ronnie seemed to do what Ronnie wanted to do. Not necessarily what was right , respectful and legal for her husband and their 3 children. I would recommend this book, most definitely because it makes you think in many different perspectives and emotions!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Although I enjoyed the story, I found it hard to relate to Ronnie. I recognize postpartum depression and that it can affect people differently. But the extreme action taken by Ronnie, and the fact that she couldn't see her way back, bothered me. That said, never having experienced postpartum depression, who am I to say what is or is not possible?