Never Gone

By Laurel Garver

Fifteen-year-old artist Dani Deane feels like the universe has imploded when her photographer father dies. Days after his death, she sees him leafing through sketches in her room, roaming the halls at church, wandering his own wake. Is grief making her crazy? Or is her dad adrift between this world and the next, trying to contact her?

Dani longs for his help as she tries and fails to communicate with her workaholic mother. Her pain only deepens when astonishing secrets about her family history come to light. But Dani finds a surprising ally in Theo, the quiet guy lingering in the backstage of her life. He persistently reaches out as Dani’s faith falters, her family relationships unravel, and she withdraws into a dangerous obsession with her father’s ghostly appearances. Will she let her broken, prodigal heart find reason to hope again?

From the skyscrapers of New York to the sheep-dotted English countryside, NEVER GONE explores life after loss with emotional honesty, humor, and a touch of romance.

"Garver tackles difficult subjects with depth and grace, weaving the complexities of faith with the complexities of growing up."
--Heidi Willis, author of Some Kind of Normal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laurel Garver
• Release date: Sep 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301255511

Laurel Garver

Laurel Garver holds degrees in English and journalism and earns a living as a magazine editor. She enjoys quirky independent films, word games, British television, and Celtic music. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. 

Reviews for Never Gone

[rivkabelle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review originally published on my blog: AWordsWorth.blogspot.comeBook provided by author for review. When her father dies following a lengthy battle to recover from a horrific accident, Dani is understandably distraught. Struggling to deal with her grief, and desperately missing her most understanding parental figure, Dani is shocked to discover that she can see her father. She thinks. After the first unsettling encounter, she begins to hope that maybe - just maybe - he's not really gone after all, and can help her sort through the family mysteries coming to light.Never Gone deals with some pretty tough, raw, gritty emotions. Dani's grief over her father's unexpected death is compounded by the frustration she feels from trying (and failing) to communicate with her mother. She doesn't know what to do with all the hurt, nor how to handle the surprising secrets about her family history that are coming to light. To top it all off, she's been sent to Dad's hometown in ENGLAND?, where everyone's memories of him are crowding in and seeming to come to life. But Dani has a surprising source of strength and support in this, and his name is Theo. His gentle persistence, and keen perceptions, help Dani see things in a different light -- she even learns to see Theo in a different light. A story of redemption, of hope in the face of intense sorrow, and of great personal growth, Never Gone is a touching read.