Love Letters to the Dead

When Laurel’s English teacher assigns a letter to a deceased person, the high school freshman begins a secret journal addressed to figures like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Amy Winehouse. These letters serve as a vessel for Laurel to process her grief following the death of her older sister, May. As she navigates a new school, initiates her first romance with a boy named Sky, and witnesses her parents' separation, Laurel avoids the specific circumstances of the accident that killed May. Through the correspondence, she eventually confronts the reality of her sister’s imperfections and her own suppressed memories of the night May died.

Readers who gravitate toward young adult epistolary novels will find a technical look at how teenagers externalize internal trauma. People read this book to understand the intersection of celebrity mourning and personal loss, observing how a protagonist uses the legacies of famous figures to interpret her own life. The reader walks away with a perspective on the emotional weight of sibling dynamics and the specific psychological steps required to separate one’s identity from a lost family member.

Inward-looking and thought-provoking; an easy read.

Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?