Julie is devastated. She has lost her everything. Sam has been her life for the past three years, and now he is gone. They had so many plans together for after graduation. They’d spent hours and hours planning, right down to how they would decorate their apartment while she will write and work and he wrote music and played gigs. Now Julie is lost.

It’s been a week since he died, and she’s only just emerging from her bedroom, let alone facing school and family. What’s even worse is the thought of facing Sam’s family, in particular his cousin Mika who has been a close friend and confidante for both of them.

When Julie does see Mika, it’s just as hard as she’d imagined, wanting to see someone but then it being impossible to talk about their mutual loss. Julie is confused, full of guilt for what happened that night, and sure that everyone hates her for not even going to the funeral. How does she explain that?

She’s not wrong about what people think about her, and must face it when she goes back to school. But she’s only holding it together because something incredible has happened. After receiving her Year Book with a pile of school work to catch up on, she found a note from Sam. In wanting to hear his voice again, she rang his cellphone to listen to his voice mail recorded message. Sam answers the phone.

At first she thinks she’s going crazy, but quickly realises she is doing the impossible. Talking to Sam after he is dead. There are rules however and unknown to her at first, a finite time limit on this connection. As she tries to get her life back on track, and reconnects with friends and those around her, she soon sees that her withdrawal from everything ‘Sam’ in real life might be easier for her but so painful to those who also loved him and were part of both of their lives.

There is only one way to move on, and one way to help others with their grief. Can she do it?

A story about love, loss and grief in all its forms. One person can impact on so many lives around them, and the main character in You’ve Reached Sam slowly realises that although she is drowning in her own loss, she is also part of other people’s hurt.

Grief is complicated and different for everyone, and this debut author has expressed that beautifully within the story, with a wonderful link to the afterlife. This allows the reader to get to know Sam along with Julie’s memories of him. Characterisation of other people in the story is deep enough to understand the connections between them, but like the plot, not heavy with complications.

A sorrowful but well-written read about grieving, remembering and the all important saying goodbye.

(Tissues may be required)

Author – Dustin Thao

Age – 13+

(2022, Macmillan, Family, Love, Grief, Romance, School, Secret, Fantasy, Afterlife, Guilty feelings, Road accident, Loss, Making plans, Friendship, Falling Apart, Picking yourself up, Moving on, Remembering, Saying Goodbye, Falling Apart, Understanding other’s grief)