Love, Aubrey

Love, Aubrey, by Suzanne LaFleur, is a 2009 children's novel about a young girl recovering from the tragedy of losing her father and sister in an automobile accident, and from the confusion of being abandoned by her grieving mother.

Plot Summary

The novel tells the story about how an 11-year old girl named Aubrey Priestly recovers from losing her little sister (Savannah) and her father in a car crash. The first main event was when Aubrey’s mom runs away and leaves Aubrey alone in their house. Aubrey soon has to go shopping and buys a fish which she names Sammy. For the next few weeks, Aubrey lives on Spaghetti-Os and cheese and crackers. Eventually, Aubrey’s grandma shows up because Aubrey wasn’t answering the phone. Aubrey decides to lie to her grandma about her mom being missing, saying she would come for dinner, but Aubrey's grandma soon finds out that Aubrey's mom is missing. Grandma decides that she will take Aubrey with her to her house in Vermont. While in Vermont, Aubrey makes a new friend (Bridget) and has fun with her and her sister (Mabel). Mabel reminds Aubrey of Savannah and a few times Aubrey freaks out. When the school year begins, Aubrey has to go see the school counselor (Amy) who gives Aubrey an assignment to sit by someone new at lunch. She decides to sit by Marcus, another boy under Amy's guidance. At first he was kind of nervous. Then after a while he loosens up and they become friends. Aubrey’s mom finally arrived at night, waking Aubrey up by the sound of her voice in the house. At first she thought it was a dream, then she thinks it’s too clear to be a dream. She goes down stairs to see her mom and grandma arguing in the kitchen. For a while, Aubrey’s mom lives with Aubrey and her grandma, trying to recover from all she’s been through. After she gets better she goes back to her house in Virginia without Aubrey. After a few months, Aubrey’s mom decides that she is ready for Aubrey to come home. The choice of returning is left to Aubrey, who is very excited at first but realizes she has a difficult decision to make. She decided to stay with her grandmother and will visit during the summer. in conclusion aubrey realises that it would be best if she stayed with gram as she would miss her too.

• Aubrey Priestly: 11-year-old girl, mourning the loss of her father and sister, abandoned by her mother, living with her grandmother.
• Gram: Aubrey's maternal grandmother, who provides the stability in the Aubrey's life necessary for her to come to terms with her loss.
• Savanna: Aubrey's 7-year-old sister, who died in a car accident.
• Bridget: Aubrey's caring best friend, who lives next door to Gram in Vermont.
• Marcus: A friend from school, whose emotional problems help Aubrey gain perspective.
• Jilly: Savannah's imaginary friend, to whom Aubrey first began writing letters to.
• Amy Carlisle: Aubrey's counselor at school.
• Mabel: Bridget's 4-year-old sister, who constantly causes painful memories of Savannah that overwhelm Aubrey.
• Lissie: Short for Elizabeth, Aubrey's mother who abandoned her at the beginning of the book.

Story locations

• The story begins with Aubrey living alone at her home in Virginia, then her Gram takes her to live in Vermont.

Translations

• A German translation is available under the title Mich gibt's auch noch!, translated by Ulrike Nolte, from Cecilie Dressler Verlag (ISBN 9783791512037).
• A Swedish translation is available under the title Kram från Alice (ISBN 9789132157240).
• A translation is available under the title Liefs van Aubrey (ISBN 9789047510888).

External links

• Author's official Web site