"AND THE WHIPPOORWILL SANG"

By MICKI PELUSO


"And the Whippoorwill Sang" is a deathbed promise I made to my lost child. When she was struck down by a drunk driver, her spinal cord severed, and left in a semi-coma for ten of the longest days of our lives, I told her I would make sure the world knew who and what she was; so that her death would not be in vain. As close as our large family was, when Noelle died, we all went our separate ways, unable to comfort each other. One of her sisters became bulimic and suicidal, a brother raced cars to tempt God to take him as well, her other brother had to be constantly pulled back from going after the repeated offender drunk driver who caused our world to dim without Noelle’s presence. Her oldest sister could not handle our great sorrow and stayed away on her own, while her youngest sister was plagued with anxiety and panic attacks at the age of eleven. Her father did not speak her name for five years and barely ever after that. As for me, I wrote. I could not speak or share so I wrote. The short story of the book was published by Victimology; an International Magazine. I wrote slice of life stories about her and all the kids for my new local daily newspaper, which led to a career in Journalism. I started the book about four years after her death, but life stepped in and I had to put it aside for years. When I was able to continue it, I realized the block when I came to the part before she died. My kids, many of whom also had memory loss, helped as we forced ourselves to remember—that and a deadline from my publisher finally got the book done. 

TO READ MORE OF THIS FASCINATING INTERVIEW PLEASE VISIT US ON "QUEEN OF AFTERNOON TEA." MICKI PELUSO'S STORY WILL TOUCH YOUR HEART.

She's giving away a free signed copy of her book.  Please see the interview for details. Have a great week, dear friends.

~Nancy Jill