Just in time for the Holidays, two heartwarming SouthCoast self-published stories

In the spirit of family and kicking off the holiday season, I want to share two stories from BookLovers who have reached out to me recently that are two of the most heartwarming stories about writing and books that you could ever hope to read.

“This book is the culmination of a promise I made to my 40-year-old niece, Terri Luanna da Silva, when she whispered to me, ‘I think I’m dying. I want you to tell people,’” Laurie O’Neil of Dartmouth wrote me.

Now Laurie— who is retired from Dartmouth Public Schools—and Terri’s 9-year-old daughter Marissa, have self-published Terri’s posthumous memoir. “Graceful Woman Warrior: A Story Of Mindfully Living In The Face Of Dying,” by Terri Luanna da Silva. The book releases Dec. 9 and is available for pre-order.

According to the synopsis, the book chronicles Terri’s journey after a Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer diagnosis at age 37, and offers “a bold blueprint for navigating the sacred cycles of life and death.

″[It’s a] gutsy, thought-provoking and deeply moving posthumous memoir about mindfully living and dying with cancer. Forced to take an honest look at her own mortality … da Silva started a blog about her journey… Questions such as… How do I parent my two-year-old through cancer? How do I find the strength to live my truth, go against the grain and chart my own holistic path? How and when do I decide it’s time? Time to die…”

And now, the most heartwarming aspect:

The book includes a coda by Terri’s 9-year-old daughter, Marisa Alegria da Silva, a fourth-grader at James M. Quinn School. Dad is Heron da Silva of Dartmouth.

Marisa, according to their press material, is a “a nine-year-old girl writing songs, making art, having fun and most importantly, eating candy.

“Marisa dreams of having her own horse and the all the animals she dreams of… In her memory, she can picture her and Mamae baking a cake and licking the bowl together… Marisa knows Mamae… is busy creating beautiful sunsets and putting Marisa’s favorite songs on the radio, and visiting Marisa by sending a deer or two near her.”

…Oh my God. If that doesn’t make you feel something, man.

I have goosebumps right now.

This is all so moving, from start to finish, I honestly don’t know what to say here.

This is such a stunning example of words binding a family through life and death. Of the full force the power of writing. The power of story. Words are eternal. Human stories like this are universal.

Marissa, congratulations on your first byline. Safe to say Mamae is overwhelmingly proud of you. We BookLovers are, too. Keep an eye out for those deer.

The Book Launch at the New Bedford Country Club on Dec. 5 is filled to capacity. You can buy the book Dec. 9 online.

Because they self-published, they’re not hoping to make money off this — they’re just hoping to make their money back. Laurie said extra proceeds will go in part towards Marissa’s college savings.

Let’s support this one, BookLovers. Available online at Amazon or barnesandnoble.com.

— — —

In a similar vein, Dartmouth summer resident Anna Whitcomb and her late mother, Anna Danzer, began working on a novel together in 1974: “Riverrock: A New England Family Saga.”

“While it is mostly her writing, I inherited the book, all 735 pages, upon her death in 2003 and edited the novel to what it is today,” Anna writes in description letter. She recently self-published a 360-page version.

Book aside, this is a touching story of a book bringing family together.

But from a reviewers point of view, this book is far beyond what you might expect: Well-plotted, beautifully written, with thought-out, complex characters. According to the synopsis:

Set in Massachusetts during World War II, we meet Dane, a young reporter from Maryland, who jumps into a marriage with Andrew ‘Beck’ Beckford, an aspiring doctor with old New England money. But right before he joins the Army, doubts set in.

After giving up her career to move to his family’s estate in Massachusetts, and becoming entwined in their knotty private affairs, her concerns multiply. What kind of family did she marry into? Beck’s father, Andrew, is a domineering patriarch who has a strange grip over his daughter, Eleanor. Maud, the matriarch, is a master manipulator, forever plotting against her husband. Randall, Beck’s older brother, is an enigma.

And Beck? He’s like a lost child, crumbling after returning from war.

The more skeletons Dane uncovers — those involving deceit, forbidden love, even murder — the more determined she is to untangle herself from the Beckfords’ hold and leave the prison of Riverrock…

I’m thrilled this book got to see the light of day.

Anna, your mother may not have lived to see the publication, but her beautiful words now exist in print. Congratulations.

Available on Amazon or barnesandnoble.com.

Now let’s all go hug our families.

This article originally appeared in the Standard Times on November 24, 2018, see it HERE