Synopses & Reviews
Sixteen-year-old Meghan used to be a runner. Top notch. Hermes couldn't catch her. But cancer destroyed that.
She used to have a brother. Killian. Meghan thought he was her white knight. But her father and Vietnam destroyed him.
She used to have a father, but he's become a steely stranger in a navy blue suit...
She does have an idol. A school thesis draws Meghan to someone who knew even greater pain, who faced more intolerable circumstances, who could still summon the strength to rise above it all. Now it seems Abraham Lincoln is the only person Meghan feels she can talk to. So she does, on 6 x 4 inch pieces of paper -- even though Lincoln lived a hundred and fifty years ago. And she wonders why her father can't be more like Lincoln, and if she could be.
With unflinching eloquence, Catherine Lewis weaves together a story about achieving perfection and then falling from grace, about family, self-preservation, and a girl full of grit and fury at an overwhelming crossroads.
Synopsis
Dear Mr. Lincoln,
Could you pick up a gun and shoot a man? Hunt a human? Would you do it to save the Union? There was no Union to save in Vietnam. I think that if it meant my life I could do it. Otherwise, the space grows larger between me and my brother. A gap so large. Now tell me. How do you cross a chasm that is too deep and wide for even a bridge? You left only a few clues before you died about how to reunite those who had once been so close. I am scratching around for those clues in the dirt.
Hey, do I look like a detective to you?
Your friend,
Nancy Drew (alias Meghan Hartman)
About the Author
Catherine Lewis worked as a emergency medical technician and police officer while honing her writing skills. She now teaches creative writing at Purchase College and lives in New York City. Her first novel,
Dry Fire, was for adults;
Postcards to Father Abraham is her debut young adult novel.
Table of Contents
ContentsPrologue
I. Bargain
II. Bankrupt
III. Legs
IV. Husking
V. Brother