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by Kayla French (Author)
Told in fragments and verse, I Had You in July moves through the before, during, and after of losing a mother in the ICU. Each poem is its own small world, yet together they weave a story of fierce love, relentless effort, and raw grief. Written with unflinching honesty and paired with the author's own illustrations, this collection captures the urgency of hospital decisions alongside the quiet, unending work of letting go.
Both deeply personal and achingly universal, it speaks to anyone who has loved someone through the unthinkable, whether in a hospital room, in the long stretch of waiting, or in the silence after.
This memoir does not soften the edges of loss. It lingers in impossible decisions, in the weight of waiting, and in the quiet that follows. Yet within that rawness, it holds space for the fierce love that persists.
It is not only about the end of a life, but about what endures: love that outlasts the body, memory that insists on returning, and grief that reshapes but does not erase. More than the story of a death, this memoir is a testament to love that endured to the very last breath and to a daughter's devotion to carry every fragment of her mother home.
