THE ROAD TO YESTERDAY

A woman overcomes immense personal loss as she builds a life for her sons and herself in Donovan’s memoir.

At 25 years old, Maryellen Donovan met Steve Cherry, a handsome financier on Wall Street who swept her off her feet. They married and had two sons, Brett and Colton. Their world crashed down on Sept. 11, 2001; Steve worked in the Twin Towers and was a victim of the horrific terrorist attacks. At 37, Donovan was a widow, navigating her own grief while trying to raise her two sons (Colton was still only a baby). Donovan describes the wonderful family and friends she had around her, and her love for them really shines through in co-writers Black and Frangello’s telling of her story. She is honest about the fact that Steve was married when they met and about the misguided meddling of her mother-in-law, Sharon. (Sharon conspired to throw Donovan into the path of Russ, Steve’s kindhearted stepbrother, who developed an incredible bond with her sons; Donovan and Russ would marry.) The memoir recounts Donovan and Russ’ difficult marriage, her loss of Russ to cancer, and her own battle with breast cancer. These sections reveal a stoic fighter focused on creating a magical and loving life for her boys. Though the text was written by Black and Frangello, the memoir does make it feel like it’s Donovan’s voice that is being heard—she has such a seamless, conversational, and introspective way of recounting her story that the fact that she didn’t directly put pen to paper is quickly forgotten. Though the epilogue could perhaps have been split into multiple chapters, it looks forward to the future with Donovan’s established frankness as she admits to mistakes while also fully demonstrating that her “desire is to shine a light in the darkness for others.”

A touching story of navigating grief for readers seeking solace.