The Shoebox Of Letters That Changed Everything I Knew About My Family

by Michelle Taylor

She found the shoebox taped beneath the drawer three days before the estate sale was set to begin. Elena Vance has spent twenty years preserving history for museums, but she has spent her life trying to forget her own. Now forty-five, she is the dutiful caregiver to Arthur, the stepfather who 'rescued' her when her mother went to prison. But when Arthur’s massive stroke forces a move to assisted living, Elena undertakes the massive task of clearing his Victorian hoard. Inside the box are thirty years of unopened letters from prison—letters Arthur swore never existed. As she decodes the desperate scrawl, Elena realizes her mother didn't abandon her; she was erased. Now, trapped in a house with a stepfather who cannot speak but watches her every move, Elena must find the evidence that proves his guilt before her siblings sell the estate and bury the truth forever. Elena must decide: keep the peace for the dying man who raised her, or destroy his legacy to save the mother she was taught to hate.