“Tammy Flanders Hetrick’s novel Stella Rose proves to the reader that Love is not just stronger than Death, but stranger. Succumbing to illness, a brilliant woman bequeaths her teenager daughter, their home, and a series of instructions for life while grieving, to her best friend. Hetrick deftly studies the ties that bind, unraveling mysteries that complicate and, finally, enrich intimacy.”
—Verandah Porche, author of Sudden Eden and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Marlboro College
Before her death, Stella Rose asks her best friend, Abby, to take care of her sixteen-year-old daughter, and Abby does the only thing she can: she says yes.
After Stella’s death, Abby moves to Stella’s house in rural Vermont and struggles to connect with Olivia, who immediately begins to engage in disturbing behavior—starting with ditching her old group of friends for a crowd of dubious characters.
As the fog of grief lifts, Abby reconnects with old friends, enlists the aid of Olivia’s school guidance counselor, and partners with Betsy, another single mom, in an effort to keep tabs on the headstrong teenager she’s suddenly found herself responsible for—but despite her best efforts, she is unable to keep Olivia from self-destruction.
As Abby’s journey unfolds, she grapples with raising a grieving teenager, realizes she didn’t know Stella as well as she thought, falls in love—twice—and discovers just how far she will go to save the most precious thing in her life.
Author: Tammy Flanders Hetrick
Publication Date: April 21, 2015
