REMEMBER THE MOON

It seems while I’m taking the year off to rest and recuperate, many of my friends are taking this year to break out.

My dear friend Abby is no exception. I met Abby almost 25 years ago. We were both newlyweds and our husbands were earning their masters at Boston University Brussels. But because Abby and I we were not from the European Union, we simply could not get hired ANYWHERE. Fresh out of college and eager to conquer the world, we had to settle for weird little under-the-table jobs while our husbands were off getting smarterer and smarterer and working cool internships at leading international companies.

With little money but loads of time, what could have been a dreadfully boring period was saved by crispy frites, cheap French wine, Tom Robbins, solitaire … and Abby.

She and I were the only “wives” in our husbands’ program, so we naturally found company and – as it turns out – lasting friendship in one another.

In 2001, Abby’s husband, Arron, died in 9/11 while at a conference in the second tower. Abby not only wrote a stirring memoir about Arron’s death, The Alchemy of Loss, but she raised their two children, Olivia (now in college) and Carter (now in high school), she maintains a popular blog that covers grief, parenting, life, and she launched Writer.ly, a company that connects writers with editors, artists and other freelance talent that make self-publishing possible.

But this girl does not just talk the talk. Abby employed Writer.ly to get the professionals she needed to help her publish her second book, a novel called Remember the Moon. Described as The Lovely Bones meets Ghost, Remember the Moon is about a successful businessman, husband, and father whose life is cut short in a tragic car accident. Maya, his wife, must pick up the pieces after her husband’s death and raise their increasingly troubled son. The story is loaded with psychological twists and turns that reveal dark secrets, shocking betrayals, and ultimately, self-realization – in life and in death.

So this a big shout-out to my Abby. You can download her latest book at Amazon for a mere $3.99. I’m a fan.

Pictured above, Remember the Moon cover art by Sheri Bakes.