Luke Richardson has returned home after burying Natalie, his beloved wife of sixteen years, ready to face the hard job of raising their three children alone. But there's something he's not prepared for-a blue envelope with his name scrawled across the front in Natalie's handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home.
The letter inside, written on the first day of Natalie's cancer treatment a year ago, turns out to be the first of many. Luke is convinced they're genuine, but who is delivering them? As his obsession with the letters grows, Luke uncovers long-buried secrets that make him question everything he knew about his wife and their family. But the revelations also point the way toward a future where love goes on-in written words, in memories, and in the promises, it's never too late to keep.
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[It was a beautiful funeral. How could it not be? Natalie planned the whole thing, and she always had a knack for entertaining. Luke and Natalie had visited the funeral home together, but Nat did all the work. From the donation basket for the National Cancer Society to the personalised video messages, playing on a loop in the foyer, it was probably the funeral of the year in Farmington Hills, Michigan]***
(Lake Union Publishing, ebook, 15 March 2016, Prime Reading)
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I thought When I'm Gone was great. It took me ages to read simply because my reading schedule has been mental for a couple of weeks.
I loved the set up for the book, Luke, still grieving his wife, barely started to put his life back together, receives letters from his deceased wife. I find the idea heart-breaking but sort of wonderful as well. Can you imagine if that happened to you? The letters would bring you pain but you would start to crave them.
When I'm Gone is about a lot of things, not just Luke finding a way to grieve for his wife. It's one of those great books that is much more than the sum of its parts. I loved the way Luke changes throughout the course of the book as he finds his feet again, thanks in part to the letters and the support system his wife forces him to create.
I was glad Natalie's secret wasn't horrible as hinted as throughout the book. I really thought he was going to uncover something that would smash his fragile world into pieces. The big secret is sad but much better than I'd been anticipating.
