In daily love letters written to her husband and soul companion, Brian, over the year following his death from brain cancer, critically acclaimed author, playwright, and jazz singer Martha Brooks leads us on a journey through grief that is both deeply personal and undeniably universal.

By turns funny, shattering, and uplifting, Brooks wrestles with the crucial question of how to continue a lifelong romance once your lover is gone. The answer seems to come from Brian himself, leaving timely clues and orchestrating surprising synchronicities of healing through family, friends, and complete strangers. Through her “Letters to Brian”, Brooks learns not to overcome her grief but to live with loss. And she comes to realize that we are never truly alone.

Martha Brooks lives in Winnipeg. Her book Traveling on into the Light was named to the international 1996 IBBY Honour List and is an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Two Moons in August and Paradise Caf and Other Stories were Governor General’s Award nominees; the latter also received the 1991 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for distinguished children’s fiction. When not writing, Martha can be found performing in local jazz clubs. Maureen Hunter is one of Canada’s most successful playwrights. Her work has been produced extensively on Canada’s major stages, in the United States, and Britain, and by CBC and BBC Radio. Atlantis was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and Transit of Venus, premiered by the Manitoba Theatre Centre, became the first Canadian play ever staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company of Britain. A native of Saskatchewan, Maureen now lives on the banks of the Red River in Winnipeg.

Martha Brooks' profile page

• Winner, Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-fiction

"The reader has taken the voyage, too, and remarkably, it isn't a soul destroying trip. We have lived through the sorrow, and Martha's rising appreciation of life and its opportunities with her."

Joan Cohen