DANCING IN THE STORM Available Feb. 6, 2024
Videos | Awards & Reviews | Store
Young Adult Writer

The Latest from Shannon

What's new from Shannon
15 Apr 2012
10
, ,

WAITING TO FORGET by Sheila Kelly Welch

I always read the Author’s Note of a book first because I want to know why an author chose this particular story. The note at the end of WAITING TO FORGET says, “She, (Ms. Welch), and her husband live in Illinois, where they raised five sons and two daughters. Four of the children were adopted when they were of school age.” That kind of emotional truth resonates in the story of two children, Angela and T.J. who suffer because their mother is too immature to take care of them.

The mother’s primary sin is neglect. She can’t be bothered to make sure her children are clean, fed, and safe. But neglect turns to emotional and physical abuse at the hands of their mother’s boyfriend.

The turning point in this novel happens when T.J. and Angela are left alone for the weekend. Their only link to their mother is a cell phone that she never bothers to answer.

The story is told in alternating sections between “Then” and “Now.” Now takes place in the hospital waiting room where T.J. is waiting for news of Angela. Then tells the story of the abuse and neglect that culminated in her accident. The reader doesn’t find out what happened to Angela until near the end of the book. I couldn’t put it down until I knew.

WAITING TO FORGET packs an emotional punch. It will leave you thinking long after you finish it.

About Post Author

10 Responses

  1. Sheila

    Hi, Shannon,

    Thanks so much for reviewing my novel and for the lovely stars you gave it on Goodreads. Welcome to the namelos group of authors, and I can't wait to read your novel. Also, I read about your heart problems and am so glad you found the help you needed. I had open heart surgery that saved my life — 31 years ago — and my heart is still ticking.

  5. Mirka Breen

    Seems the best sort of book- unforgettable.
    The other day I heard an adult, who had been neglected thus in childhood, say that if cats have nine lives he must have had fifteen to survive the level of negligence his single mother subjected him and his sister to.

  6. Shannon Hitchcock

    Mirka, that is much like this book. There were 100 opportunities for bad things to happen to T.J. and Angela. What is sobering to me is imagining some child picking up this book and thinking, "I'm not alone. Other kids are pushed, made fun of, and left alone by the adults in their lives." This book is not commercial in any way, but I think it will really matter to some readers.