The Dead Wife’s Handbook – Hannah Beckerman – Genre – Chick Lit / Contemporary
Blurb: ‘Today is my death anniversary. A year ago today I was still alive.’
Rachel, Max and their daughter Ellie had the perfect life – until the night Rachel’s heart stopped beating.
Now Max and Ellie are doing their best to adapt to life without Rachel, and just as her family can’t forget her, Rachel can’t quite let go of them either. Caught in a place between worlds, Rachel watches helplessly as she begins to fade from their lives. And when Max is persuaded by family and friends to start dating again, Rachel starts to understand that dying was just the beginning of her problems.
As Rachel grieves for the life she’s lost and the life she’ll never lead, she learns that sometimes the thing that breaks your heart might be the very thing you hope for.
Hannah Beckerman gives an unforgettable exploration of love and loss in her first novel, The Dead Wife’s Handbook.
My Review: No spoilers here as we find out from the first page that Rachel has died unexpectedly and is now narrating her story somewhere in the afterworld. This is an extremely emotional and upsetting book in places and made my heart ache throughout but the overall message is about love and therefore I would recommend this.
About the Author: Hannah Beckerman is a former TV and film producer who spent fifteen years producing and commissioning documentaries about the arts, history, and science before turning her hand to writing. She is the author of The Dead Wife’s Handbook and has contributed short stories to the Sunday Express and Sunlounger 2. She is also freelance journalist for FT Weekend Magazine. Hannah lives in London with her husband and their incredibly lively toddler. She is currently writing her second novel.