Paperback Publication Date: July 4, 2023
When death is dancing closer than you’d like, what becomes important? What do you need to tell your child? And how do you want to be remembered? A beautiful, tender, funny and poignant guide on how to really live, from a mother to her daughter.
Ella Ward comes from a long line of irrepressibly charming raconteurs, letter-writers, storytellers and people who ‘quite like giving toasts at parties’. And so, a few years ago, when Ella was 36 years old, with a husband and a young daughter, and was told that she had a rare cancer and might die, she decided that death wasn’t going to stand in the way of her mothering her child.
As Ella’s treatment for her cancer began, she started drafting letters to her daughter. To tell her about life, love, death, the importance of cotton knickers and – above all – her family. The kind of people who weren’t dissuaded by little things like cancer. Or war. Or loss. Or a charging elephant.
This is a story of what we inherit, and how we become ourselves. This is the story of a family – a glorious, funny, exotic and gutsy family – but it’s really a story about how your attitude to life, can shape your life. A time-travelling memoir from one mother, and the generations that came before her – these are twenty-seven letters about the good, the bad, the magical and the whole damn thing.
Jaunty, brave, moving and immensely appealing, this is a gloriously endearing inspirational story in the tradition of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Last Lecture … although with slightly more dry martinis.
‘Not many people write hilariously and beautifully about something really intense and life altering. [This book] takes you all the way from heartbreak to hilarity – it will be your best friend for a while.’ Martha Beck, New York Times bestselling author of The Way of Integrity
Staring a cancer diagnosis in the face, author Ella Ward wants to leave her daughter with a priceless legacy—a connection between the past and present.
The end result is Twenty-Seven Letters to My Daughter. It’s a collection of 188 lessons the author learned throughout her life. The constant theme throughout is sharing family history so it can continue to live.
Some of the lessons are purely comical in nature, such as a reminder to use butter before syrup, while others pack an inspirational punch like your job is what you make it. Through the letters, Ward draws from the wisdom passed down to her by other family members and shares those stories.
What makes this story unique is that readers can easily substitute the names and specific details and transform them into their story. The greatest gift a loved one can provide is the gift of knowledge.
Twenty-Seven Letters to My Daughter provides a beautiful way to keep family history alive while creating a priceless gift of wisdom.
Ella Ward is an Aussie mum, wife, advertising boss lady and sometime freelance writer. She’s also, unfortunately, one of Those Cancer People. Her words have been published in places like Frankie, Lunch Lady and The Age; as well as online on sites including MamaMia, Whimn and KidSpot. Ella’s currently oversharing here, down the shops, at the hairdressers, anywhere near other people, and – of course – on Instagram @_msellabella
