60 pages 2 hours read

Ann Napolitano

Dear Edward

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Part 1, Chapters 6-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “July 2013”

Edward visits Shay at night again. She compares him to Harry Potter, a character who moved in with his aunt and uncle after his parents died. While Shay believes Edward is special like Harry, he doesn’t agree. Edward visits Dr. Mike, his therapist, who tells Edward, “There are grown-ups, children, and then you […] we need to figure out what you are” (76). Again, Edward is separate from the larger world.

Edward begins to sleep on Shay’s bedroom floor every night. Besa thanks him for his friendship with her daughter, who has trouble making friends. When Besa mentions Lacey, Edward considers his inability to sleep in the nursery, “knowing that those four walls couldn’t bear both Lacey’s grief and his own.” (78). He begins to find connections in his loss.

As he tries to eat crackers one night, Edward sees John drop his tablet and laughs, startling himself. He also notices that Shay is writing in her notebook as they talk at night. An envelope with pictures of his family’s belongings arrive, and Edward is upset by a photo of his mother’s bracelet. This strengthens his understanding of Lacey, who “lost her sibling, just like he lost his” (85).