Replacement Child [Paperback]

Replacement Childby Judy L. Mandel is a book I recommend to anyone curious about the true story of one family who was caught up in the tragedy of the second plane crash.” —Judy Blume, fromIn the Unlikely Event

Judy L. Mandel was born into a family crippled by grief. But it would be years before she would discover the shocking circumstances of their loss.

In her award-winning memoir,Replacement Child—now aNew York Timesbestseller—Mandel tells the true story of a horrifying accident: A plane crashes into a family’s home, leaving one daughter severely burned and another dead. The death of the child leaves a hole in the family that threatens to tear it apart. In an attempt to fill the painful gap, the parents give birth to a “replacement child.”

This powerful tale of love and lies, family and hope, is an intimate account of being brought into the world to provide “a salve for the burns.” As a child, Mandel unwittingly rides the deep and hidden currents of her family’s grief—until her discovery of this family secret, years later, changes her life forever, forcing her to confront the complex layers of her relationships with her father, mother, and sister.

The unthinkable happens every day. But it’s not every day that a writer turns it into art.
—The Star-Ledger

By cleverly shifting between recent years and the day of the crash, Mandel weaves together chapters of real and imagined scenes building to the inevitable. . . the book grapples with the random forces that shape modern life.
—Publishers Weekly

Intimately told . . . a well-balanced story of loss and hope.
—The Examiner

A very powerful memoir . . . I definitely recommend picking this one up.
—Raging Bibliomania

“This touching tale of healing and understls4