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It’s seven years after Holly Kennedy’s husband died, six years after she’s read his last letter. Before succumbing to cancer, Gerry left her 10 letters to read monthly after his death, encouraging her and giving her some things to do. Holly is in a good place now, even content with a boyfriend of two years, so she’s reluctant to revisit the past when her sister asks her to talk about her experience on her podcast, but she does because it’s her sister asking.
Shortly after Holly speaks on the podcast, a small group of people with terminal illnesses reach out to her, asking her to help them create similar letters for their own loved ones, and Holly does all she can to say no, to not get pulled back into the place she has finally left behind. It’s too painful. Her family and her new man, Gabriel, don’t think it’s a good idea for her to get involved. But when she meets them, she just can’t help getting drawn in. There’s a teenage mom with cancer, fiercely intent on making sure her baby has a letter to remember her by; an older woman with multiple sclerosis who’s the anchor of her family; an older man who wants to send his wife on a tour of important spots from their life, and a younger man whose children are still little.
All in time become precious to Holly, even as the memories of the year she received Gerry’s letters come back to the forefront and make her reconsider a number of things she thought were facts at the time. Her participation in this PS, I Love You Club, as its members have named it, causes or exposes some rifts in her relationship with Gabriel, makes her family worry and sends her to some dark places again. But it also takes her on another year-long journey of self-discovery, gives her greater purpose and helps her share the gift Gerry gave her with many others.
Postscript is a story that could easily be mawkish, but I rarely felt it going that direction. Ahern shares some lovely wisdom and life lessons in this follow-up to her debut novel, P.S., I Love You, published 17 years ago. It’s a love story, between Holly and Gerry, but also between Holly and new love Gabriel; it’s an exploration of navigating life and death, of acceptance of the harsh realities that life brings and that life always moves forward; it’s a celebration of making connections and helping others, even if those connections are only brief.
Rated: High, primarily for profanity. A few dozen instances of strong language, a few uses of moderate language, 15 to 20 uses of mild profanity, and about a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content is minimal; there are a few scenes where couples have sex, but details are brief and mild.
