Books › Love, Aubrey
Love, Aubrey
First published 2009 · 272 pages
A quiet, deeply moving exploration of a young girl piecing her shattered world back together through letters and love.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in a quiet, sunlit room after a long, devastating storm. It is a deeply tender, character-driven experience that moves at a steady, deliberate pace, allowing the reader to sit with the protagonist's profound sense of loss and isolation. The narrative voice is incredibly intimate, utilizing heartfelt letters to slowly peel back the layers of a child's trauma and survivor's guilt. While the atmosphere begins steeped in melancholy and the heavy silence of abandonment, it gradually warms, infused with the gentle humor and steadfast patience of extended family and new friends. It will deeply resonate with readers who gravitate toward poignant, tear-jerking stories of resilience, offering a cathartic journey that honors the messy, nonlinear reality of healing.
- Mood
- melancholy
- tender
- quiet
- hopeful
- Tone
- earnest
- vulnerable
- poignant
- gentle
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- navigating profound grief · healing through writing · rebuilding family · survivor's guilt · the weight of abandonment
- The writing
- Simple, direct, and deeply intimate, relying on epistolary elements to capture the authentic, unfiltered voice of a grieving child.
- The arc
- Moves from a place of numb, isolated survival through the messy, painful process of grieving, ultimately arriving at a fragile but genuine acceptance.
- Who it's for
- Readers who appreciate gentle, tear-jerking middle-grade stories about resilience, found family, and the slow work of healing.
Content notes
- death of family members
- car accident
- child abandonment
- severe depression
- grief
About the book
"I had everything I needed to run a household: a house, food, and a new family. From now on it would just be me and Sammy--the two of us, and no one else."A tragic accident has turned eleven-year-old Aubrey's world upside down. Starting a new life all alone, Aubrey has everything she thinks she needs: SpaghettiOs and Sammy, her new pet fish. She cannot talk about what happened to her. Writing letters is the only thing that feels right to Aubrey, even if no one ever reads them.With the aid of her loving grandmother and new friends, Aubrey learns that she is not alone, and gradually, she finds the words to express feelings that once seemed impossible to describe. The healing powers of friendship, love, and memory help Aubrey take her first steps toward the future.Readers will care for Aubrey from page one and will watch her grow until the very end, when she has to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.Love, Aubrey is devastating, brave, honest, funny, and hopeful, and it introduces a remarkable new writer, Suzanne LaFleur. No matter how old you are, this book is not to be missed.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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