Breathe My Name by R.A. Nelson

Frances is a junior in high school, and she leads a relatively normal life.  She lives in the suburbs with her mom, dad, and two younger brothers.  But, they are not her “real” family.  They are the family that adopted her after her birth mother committed a seriously heinous crime…  While suffering from temporary insanity [which sounds like it was most likely caused by postpartum depression], Afton Jelks systematically suffocated her four young daughters in ascending order, by age.  The eldest daughter, Francine Jelks, was lucky enough to have been saved at the last moment by a man who had heard a commotion when he came to read the electric meter.

After the initial media frenzy, Francine Jelks was taken away from her birth father and adopted by a family in Alabama.  She became Frances Robinson, since “Frances” would be a somewhat easy adjustment from “Francine.”  Her true identity has been kept a secret ever since, but a meeting with a man named R.C. Carruthers changes everything.  He claims to be a lawyer for Afton Jelks and says that he has a letter for Frances.  Frances insists on opening the letter in private and finds a disturbing message — I need to see you.  Please come right away.  We have to finish.

Does Frances believe that this letter actually came from her birth mother?  If so, does the letter actually mean what it seems to mean?  And what, if anything, should she do about it?  She has been having nightmares and panic attacks for so long that she knows she should probably do something… But what is the right thing to do when you have spent so much of your life trying to escape the horror of a childhood that nearly ended at the hands of your own mother?  A chilling story, to say the least.

Happy Reading!