At six and a half months into her first pregnancy, Gaylee Warner learned her daughter would not survive long after being born due to a severe birth defect. More than 40 years later, Warner, an author and retired surgical nurse, has published a collection of letters that she wrote to her daughter, Muriel, during her pregnancy and in the years after the child's death.
Warner's new memoir, "Letters to Muriel," offers a journey of love and loss as well as hope and healing as Warner grieves and copes with the death of her baby, Muriel, who was diagnosed in utero with anencephaly - the absence of major parts of the brain.
"I found that writing letters to her was so therapeutic," Warner said. "It was so much more personal than simply writing paragraphs about my experience."
"This is not only a story of loss, but also of love and hope," she said. "The love I will always have for Muriel is what I want people to get from this."
After losing Muriel, Warner eventually gave the gift of a child to another family by becoming a surrogate mother. She is now a mom to three boys. "Letters to Muriel" is an informative, intimate collection of letters that serves to show other grieving parents that they are not alone in their grief.
"Letters to Muriel"
By Gaylee Warner
ISBN: 978-1-4808-3028-8 (hardback); 978-1-4808-3027 (softcover); 978-1-4808-3029 (e-book)
Available at the Archway Publishing Online Bookstore, Barnes & Noble and Amazon
About the author
Gaylee Warner is a retired surgical nurse and daughter of a career military officer. With her family, she has lived in Morocco, Japan and all over the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. She currently resides in Wisconsin and writes children's books. To learn more about the author, please visit her website at http://www.gayleewarner.com, or her Facebook page.
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