Book #22: LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER by George Bishop

Liz, short for Elizabeth, runs away from home on the eve of her 15th birthday. Though scared, worried, and upset, her mother, Laura, sits down and begins writing a letter to her daughter detailing her own adolescence and explaining to her daughter that she really knows what it is like to be 15. Though painful, Laura reveals her masked secrets with Liz through a simple letter, words on a page.

There is power in writing. Words hold magic that can transform people.

Letter to My Daughter is a painfully candid confession from Laura detailing the reasons her parents sent her away to a private Catholic boarding school, how she fell in love with a forbidden 'misfit' from the wrong side of the tracks who ends up in Vietnam, and, finally, the meaning of the tattoo she wears proudly below her hip.

This is a special, beautifully written novel. The letter is heartfelt, honest, humorous, humbled, and horrifying - but teaches the life lessons we all learn when we come of age. A great tale of love between a mother and a daughter.