(From my Facebook page “The Tangled Red Thread.” For more reviews, go to http://tinyurl.com/lbuxw8c at amazon.com, http://tinyurl.com/npt8xhk at Goodreads, and my page for the book here: https://ellecuardaigh.com/the-tangled-red-thread/)

When I was writing the book, my main concern was how my daughters would feel about it. Even though I changed all the names, they of course would know, and frankly it was scary to “put it all out there”.

My eldest lives far away now. Although the others may be more like me in looks, or personality (God help them), it is with my firstborn that I have the deepest spiritual connection. We went through some very turbulent years after I divorced their dad, but I never told them the extent of the reasons *why* I had to leave him, because I felt the information would be too heavy for them to bear at the time.

So I mailed her a copy of the book last spring, and held my breath. This was her reply, and was the confirmation that I did not waste two years of my life writing my story:

“I wanted to say I’m so proud of you. Not just for writing the book, but for everything you’ve ever been through and ever accomplished, for yourself and for us. Thank you for surviving the bad and sharing the good, thank you for raising and loving and nurturing all of us, thank you for being you.

There is so much I suspected and so much I didn’t, so much I never realized even though it was right under my nose. So much you hid for us, so much you endured. You don’t see your parents as separate people until you are an adult, I think, and now I feel like I know you so much better than I did before. You are a beautiful, wonderful person, for all the good you have put out into the world, for all the good you put into me.

This is rambling, I’m sorry, but I just wanted to say it. Thank you for this gift. I love you so much, Mom.”

Love, *Lillie*