Amelia Unabridged: A Novel, by Ashley Schumacher

Amelia Unabridged, by Ashley Schumacher, is a deeply touching story about loss, grief, and how it moves with us through time as we grow, and the ways in which we deal with the painful absences that life brings with it.

Here’s the synopsis:

“Amelia Griffin is obsessed with the famous Orman Chronicles, written by the young and reclusive prodigy N. E. Endsley. They’re the books that brought her and her best friend Jenna together after Amelia’s father left and her family imploded. So when Amelia and Jenna get the opportunity to attend a book festival with Endsley in attendance, Amelia is ecstatic. It’s the perfect way to start off their last summer before college.

In a heartbeat, everything goes horribly wrong. When Jenna gets a chance to meet the author and Amelia doesn’t, the two have a blowout fight like they’ve never experienced. And before Amelia has a chance to mend things, Jenna is killed in a freak car accident. Grief-stricken, and without her best friend to guide her, Amelia questions everything she had planned for the future.

When a mysterious, rare edition of the Orman Chronicles arrives, Amelia is convinced that it somehow came from Jenna. Tracking the book to an obscure but enchanting bookstore in Michigan, Amelia is shocked to find herself face-to-face with the enigmatic and handsome N. E. Endsley himself, the reason for Amelia’s and Jenna’s fight and perhaps the clue to what Jenna wanted to tell her all along.”

And that’s just the beginning. There’s so much that happens in this story.

I adored the way Schumacher deals with family difficulty, friendship pains and loss, immense remorse, feelings of guilt and abandonment, trauma from unexpected hardships, all the while weaving an intricate adventure of fantasy that helps Amelia to confront and deal with these griefs, and explore mysteries that need to be untangled.

I was so impressed by all that this book accomplishes.

Amelia clings to narrative and stories to help her through life and through these deeply painful experiences in ways I recognized. It is handled so precisely and beautifully.

This story will resonate with readers who are still in their youth and less youthful folks like myself who felt that books were a lifeline during times of chaos and deep personal pain.

The hints of magic and fantasy illuminate the beauty of the grief we all deal with at some point or another. Schumacher writes about love, loss, community, and belonging in ways I’ve never seen managed like this before. It’s cultivated so well.

For me, Amelia Unabridged was not a light read. But I loved it.

It pulled emotions out of me that were heavy and thick and intense, and I think it’s important for readers to know that about this story going into it. But I wasn’t mad about it. Schumacher earned these feelings from me and not once were they, or I, left un-cared for.

It was a wonderful reading experience I would highly recommend to everyone. I’m eager to see what Schumacher writes next.

Amelia Unabridged, by Ashley Schumacher, is available now wherever you get your books. You can find it here on Amazon, here on Bookshop.org, and as an audiobook here available from Libro.fm (worth noting that purchases from Bookshop.org and Libro.fm help support independent bookstores which in turn benefit their communities).

**Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for my digital review copy, all opinions are my own.