Dear Deb: A Woman with Cancer, a Friend with Secrets, and the Letters That Became Their Miracle

by Margaret Terry

Overview

"I want you to know that if my illness inspired you to write these stories, the cancer was worth it."—Deb

What stories could possibly make cancer worth it?

Stories that represent a miracle—a lifetime of miracles. Stories that changed the writer as she wrote them and stories that will touch the heart of the reader, one by one by one. Stories that are not just stories.

They started out as words of encouragement to a dying woman. They turned into a collection of sparkling and intimate moments, pulled from the past to finally be understood and shared with new meaning.

Story by story, letter by letter, Margaret Terry uncovered powerful pictures in her own life of the one truth that could help carry her friend Deb from this life to the next: God is at work.

Together, Deb and Margaret found renewed hope in all the ways God shows up right to the very end. Which is where they found the miracle they'd been praying for all along. In each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400204373
Publisher:	Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date:	10/08/2012
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	890,689
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Margaret Terry and her sons live in Ontario, Canada, where she still stops by the side of the road to pick the Queen Anne’s lace. Her favorite thing to do is cook for family and friends and sit around the table telling stories.

Editorial Reviews

An emotionally charged friendship shared epistolary-style. Faith in God and the belief in miracles are the underlying themes in the letters debut author Terry wrote to her dying friend, Deb. Although terminally ill, Deb believed she would experience a miracle and lived her life as if she had all the time in the world. Unable to fully comprehend this perspective, Terry did the next best thing and faced her own fears. A bond that normally could have taken years to create was quickly built between the two women through the dozens of letters Terry sent as she delved deeply into her own world. As her condition grew worse, Terry's words became the one thing Deb looked forward to on a daily basis. Terry wrote about her estranged father, her unexpected divorce and her mother's mental illness. However, in thinking about her own past, she also rediscovered the many joys in her life, including her favorite moments with her sons. Through her writing and Deb's continued conviction that a miracle would take place, Terry reconnected with her own faith in God. She joined a church and realized her life was full of small miracles. Although occasional leaps in time can be a bit confusing and some of the more grim aspects of her story are only partially addressed, the overall effect of these letters is that of faith, hope and perseverance in the face of adversity. Moving stories of one woman's life that renewed her faith in friendship and in God.

Kirkus Reviews