Witty and filled with pop culture references, this is also a stunning exploration of teenage life and the power of family. An intriguing English class assignment soon gets out of control for Laurel - she can't stop writing letters to the dead. Told with passion, with humour and also intense grief, the letters Laurel writes include ones to Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, River Phoenix, Amelia Earhart, Judy Garland and Kurt Cobain and many others. Each one takes the reader into Laurel's world, a world in which she must face up to her sister's death or she will remain stuck between the lines of a page forever.
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 protege of Stephen Chbosky (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER).
