Author
Bio:
Dana
Romanin has dreamed of being a writer
since she was a little girl pretending to be Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green
Gables). She used to write under a forsythia bush, but now she writes in a
messy office that she shares with her sewing obsessed daughter.
Dana’s short story, The Silence of Sand, was chosen for adaptation into a short film
performed by the Blue Man Group. Dana has also published short fiction for
teens in Encounter—The Magazine and had a short story published in a Family Fiction anthology, The Story 2014. Her first novel, Abby’s Letters, releases in June 2017.
She lives in a small town near the Blue Ridge
Mountains in Virginia with her wonderful husband, three beautiful kids, and a
lot of persnickety pets.
You can find her blog and awkward videos on her
website www.DanaRomanin.com. She can also be found on Twitter (@DanaRomanin)
and her Facebook fan page (DanaRomaninAuthor).
Abby’s
Letters
Back Cover Copy:
For years, Jane’s mom
told her horror stories about her time spent in foster care. Now she’s
determined to keep her little sister from suffering the same fate.
Seventeen-year-old Jane Sanders has had to take care
of her alcoholic mother and little sister, Abby,
since her dad died seven years ago. And now Mom had to go and die too.
Authorities determine it was a homeless transient who died in the fire of the
old manufacturing plant, but Jane knows the truth.
There is no way she’s going to let Abby go into
foster care which leaves her with one option—fake her mom’s life. As far as
Abby knows, their mom is in rehab. And Jane wants to keep it that way. She’d be
eighteen in a few months then she could become legal guardian to her sister.
With the help of her best friend, Clark, it should be easy, right?
Juggling nosy neighbors, a concerned school
counselor, and an oblivious new boyfriend turns out to be harder than Jane
thought. But the real problem begins when Abby starts writing letters to Mom.
Through Abby’s letters, Jane sees a different side to their mom—a side she
could have loved. And loving Mom is something she didn’t plan on. Because
loving somebody makes it harder to ignore their death.
Excerpt
from Abby’s Letters:
Clark exhaled. “Anything for you,
Janie.”
Oh.
He had to pull out the nickname. It crushed her. Asking Clark to lie for
her—she had never asked so much of him. It went against everything he believed
in. She didn’t believe in all that Christian stuff, but he did. Keeping this
secret would mean disrespecting his mother. It meant he would have to go
against his beliefs.
Disrespect his God.
But his God wasn’t there for her, and
He certainly wasn’t going to save Abby from foster care.
Jane would, though.
She entwined her fingers with his. He
was so different than the little boy who’d played hide-and-seek with her on
warm summer nights, back when her world was filled with her father’s laughter
and her mother’s smiles. Now his muscle twitched in his strong jawline. What
happened to the freckle-faced boy she had played G.I. Joe and Transformers
with? He even had stubble.
“Thanks, Superman.”
“You’re the only one allowed to call
me that.”
“And you’re the only one allowed to
call me Janie.”
“This is too much. You can’t do this
alone.” His thumb caressed her hand.
“I’m not. I have you.”
Endorsements:
“Heart-wrenching, beautiful, and complex, Abby’s
Letters is an exquisitely written treatise on mother-daughter
relationships, forgiveness, and love. Romanin
skillfully tells this fragile family’s story with tenderness and grace,
highlighting the interplay of a young woman’s painful past, uncertain future,
and unflinching sisterly devotion. Each moment in this novel is a treasure shaped by masterful prose and lyrical
storytelling. Do not miss this book. This is a story that should be read by
anyone who is a mother or who loves one.”
--Megan Whitson Lee, author of Suburban
Dangers and the award-winning novel, Captives.
“Dana Romanin’s debut novel is a poignant tale of
love and lives lost, and one girl’s attempt to keep what’s left of her family
together, despite all the odds. A wonderful and thought-provoking read.”
--Diana Sharples, young
adult author of Running Lean.
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