Bandon Public Library

The author recounts his grief over the death of his wife, and explains how he reexamined his religious beliefs.

When his daughter, Amy--a gifted doctor, mother, and wife--collapsed and died from an asymptomatic heart condition, Roger Rosenblatt and his wife, Ginny, left their home on the South Shore of Long Island to move in with their son-in-law, Harris, and their three young grandchildren. With the wit, heart, precision, and depth of understanding that has characterized his work, Roger Rosenblatt peels back the layers on this most personal of losses to create...

Brutally raped and murdered by a deceptively mild-mannered neighbor, Susie begins with a compelling description of her death. During the next ten years, she watches over her family and friends as they struggle to cope with her murder. She observes their disintegrating lives with compassion and occasionally attempts, sometimes successfully, to communicate her love to them. Although the lives of all who knew her well are shaped by her tragic death,...

"Cassandra Williams is twelve, and her little brother Wayne is seven. One day, when they're alone together, an accident happens and Wayne is lost forever. Or so it seems. Though his body is never recovered, their mother, unable to give up hope, launches an organization dedicated to missing children. Their father simply leaves, starts another family somewhere else. As C grows older, she sees her brother everywhere: in coffee shops, airplane aisles,...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY
The Wall Street Journal • American Library Association • Kirkus Reviews
A stunning allegorical novel about one man’s enduring love for his daughter
In Enon, Paul Harding follows a year in the life of Charlie Crosby as he tries to come to terms with a shattering personal tragedy. Grandson of George Crosby (the protagonist of Tinkers),...

"On the eve of her daughter's wedding, June Reid's life is completely devastated when a shocking disaster takes the lives of her daughter, her daughter's fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend, Luke--her entire family, all gone in a moment. And June is the only survivor. Alone and directionless, June drives across the country, away from her small Connecticut town. In her wake, a community emerges, weaving a beautiful and surprising web of connections...

Seventeen-year-old Julie fell in love with Sam the day she met him, and planned to attend college with him; but Sam died, and getting rid of his things, trying to erase him from her life is not working, so desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls his cellphone expecting to hear his voicemail--but then Sam answers, and suddenly their cellphones become the living connection between them, a connection Julie finds impossible to let go.

"Death affects us all. Yet it is still the last taboo in our society, and the process of mourning is still deeply misunderstood. In Grief Works we hear stories of those who have experience great love and great loss -- and survived. Arranged according to one's relationship to the person who has died -- a partner, a parent, a sibling, a child -- these stories show how grief unmasks our greatest fears, strips away our layers of protection, and reveals...

Twelve-year-olds Reef and Theo have a mutual problem: their memories are getting mixed up, and that means that Reef is losing his memory of his mother, recently dead of COVID, which terrifies him--but for Theo his new memories are helping him deal with his domineering father. Reef and Theo don't know what's happening to them. They'll be going about their days and then suddenly they'll have these strange flashes of memory -- but the memories don't...