READING IDEAS FORTHE WEEK

Overcoming the loss of a loved one can seem an impossible feat. How can we live our lives past the memories that they are ever-present in? How can we make new ones in their stead?

Emma Cowell’s debut novel One Last Letter from Greece tackles these very ideas.

We follow Sophie, a young woman who has recently lost her mother, Lindsey, to cancer.

Sophie is completely stricken with grief and does not know how to live her life without her mother in it.

She takes it upon herself to travel to Greece – a place her mother adored and regularly painted – in search of one of her mother’s missing paintings.

Lindsey never spoke about her days in Greece with Sophie, yet the place was clearly dear to her. So, by travelling there and hunting down this painting of her mother’s, she would be able to not only deepen her connection to her mother but build a new one – keeping her presence alive in a world without her.

However, when in Greece Sophie finds something else, she had long given up on: love.

Cowell’s book is beautifully crafted in a vivid world of mystery, romance, and grief. Each turn she takes reveals something new about the character of Lindsey – for both Sophie and the reader.

Though I felt that the lead up to the twist was rather obvious, I still loved this book for how it handled the topic of dealing with death.

As someone who also lost their mother recently, it was a bittersweet connection to see Sophie live through similar things as I did – only in terms of grief, my mother was not also an artist of mystery.

Cowell captures this idea that it is not about simply how we move on, but how we can allow ourselves to find happiness in our lives after a tragic loss.

It is in this guilt of leading a new life we see Sophie truly break free and live her life as how her mother would have wanted her to.

While, given the topic at hand, this book will make you shed a few tears, it is a beautiful read that is ideal for the summer.

I cannot wait to see what Cowell does next.