How Many Letters Are In Goodbye?

by Yvonne Cassidy

Overview

I’m crying again, Mum. I’m crying because I don’t know how many letters I have to write to say goodbye to you. More than anything, I wish I knew. Seventeen-year-old Rhea Farrell has scars from a childhood accident in which she lost her arm. But she also carries scars that aren’t so visible— the loss of a mother she hardly remembers, the impact of her father’s drinking, and her confusion and pain around accepting her sexuality. When Rhea runs away, she turns to the person she’s always wished she could confide in: her mother. And just like she used to do as a little girl, Rhea starts to write her letters—to tell her things she can’t tell anyone else, to share her fears, to ask for help. Rhea’s journey on the streets of New York brings her deeper into her mother’s past, where she uncovers buried family secrets. And as she finds out more about the woman her mother truly was, Rhea also discovers just what kind of woman she wants to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738747453
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	03/08/2016
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Yvonne Cassidy (New York, NY) is an Irish author who has written three novels, including How Many Letters Are in Goodbye. When she's not writing, Yvonne works at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and uses her writing skills for fundraising and teaching creative writing.|

Yvonne Cassidy (New York, NY) is an Irish author who has written three novels, including How Many Letters Are in Goodbye. When she's not writing, Yvonne works at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and uses her writing skills for fundraising and teaching creative writing.

Editorial Reviews

"Heavy and intense, this book will make readers confront their own senses of identity." —Kirkus Reviews

"An effective story delivered via a unique structure." —Booklist

"A heartbreaking story about the challenges of trusting, healing, and saying goodbye." —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

01/01/2016
Gr 9 Up—Cassidy's epistolary novel skillfully explores the trauma of family tragedy against the backdrop of New York City in 1999. As her 18th birthday approaches, Rhea wrestles with experiences of homelessness and confronting the tragedies in her family's past by writing a series of letters to the mother she lost when she was only three. After running away from her aunt's home to survive in the city she had obsessed over as a child, Rhea is given the opportunity to work at a seaside summer camp for homeless youth. At camp Rhea begins to heal from the pain of her mother's death and her father's alcoholism and learns to accept herself and her sexuality. Rhea's undeliverable letters provide insight into her past and present, progressively revealing the tragedies of her past interwoven with the stark realities of her life on the street. Rhea's frustration over being perceived as disabled due to the childhood incident in which she lost her arm feels authentic, even as her denial of family history sometimes borders on naïveté. The individuals whom Rhea encounters are appropriately portrayed with varied degrees of complexity, shaking Rhea's assumptions about the appearances of lesbians, people who eat in soup kitchens, and alcoholism. References to sexual abuse and spare descriptions of sexual experiences make this work appropriate for mature teens. A heartbreaking story about the challenges of trusting, healing, and saying goodbye. VERDICT An additional purchase; give this title to readers looking for emotional impact.—Amanda Foulk, Sacramento Public Library

School Library Journal

2016-01-09
Teenage immigrant Rhea Farrell must figure out how to confront fear and loss in 1999 New York City. In a series of letters to her mum, Rhea details her new life in America, far from Ireland, where her father was buried and her mother's body remains, unfound. Rhea feels free in New York, away from overbearing Aunt Ruth in Coral Springs, Florida. Surviving the streets of the big city seems feasible with the aid of charismatic Sergei, until money and Sergei's charms run low. Every day someone denies her a job, staring at what's left of her right arm while offering a thin excuse. At this rate, Rhea knows she cannot move forward, but she cannot go back to the loose ends in Coral Springs. A meeting one night alters Rhea's course and teaches her that running away is not a proper goodbye. Cassidy anchors readers in Rhea's kaleidoscope of emotions, writing a narrative that's at times dizzying from the intensity of Rhea's mood changes and at others frustrating due to her stubbornness. It's a rough emotional landscape, demanding readers with a high tolerance for angst, but the limited point of view pays off eventually. Rhea's journey does not always offer thrills, but Cassidy's consistent momentum moves her forward to where she needs to go. Heavy and intense, this book will make readers confront their own senses of identity. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews