Love Letters to the Dead follows Laurel on her journey of coming of age and grief. The novel’s journey begins with a simple task in her English class where her teacher asks her to write a letter to any dead person of her choosing. Laurel dedicates her first letter to Kurt Cobain telling him about her assignment, slowly starting to open up. After this initial letter, the teenager chooses not to hand in the letter and instead begins to write several letters to other dead people she and her sister adored talking about her experience at her new school and resisting events of her past and with that her trauma.

The novel shows a rather realistic depiction of coming of age, grief and trauma response. The use in classroom discussions can be of great advantage to highlight that not everything always is the way it seems and that people can go through things, such as the loss of loved ones, behind closed doors. While these topics might be hard to read for some people, the meaningful message offers positivity, not only depicting the negative but also including themes of hope and healing.

The individual themes of the novel should be looked at before reading as some contents might be potential triggers. Yet, Dellaira never depicts them as too graphic.

Novel · United States · 2015