All She Wrote, a novel by author & artist Susan York
Precocious and adventurous from a young age Lydia Downing ventures through adolescence and early adulthood experiencing challenges and complexities common to many beautiful young girls. Lydia learns early how to manipulate her parents, teachers, boys and friends and consequently she suffers some of the painful repercussions attached to her choices. After her mother’s death, Lydia is forced to lives with her father Mark. He is ill-equipped to raise a teenage girl and unintentionally contributes to Lydia experiencing some of the darker sides of growing up: an eating disorder, sexual assault, broken heart and family entanglements. Unbeknownst to Mark, before her death, Roxanne had written letters to their daughter in hope of imparting ongoing motherly guidance. In the beginning, the letters helped Lydia feel close to her late mother but eventually they haunted her and she resented the mystery sender as well as the irrelevant or too late advice. Lydia’s story comes full circle when she becomes a mother to her own beautiful little girl, whom she names after her own mom.