Sarah
Eleven years gone.
Sarah has been gone eleven years when the book begins. Nobody on Wisteria Court talks about her. Claire has spent eleven years pushing the thought of her down, and Tom has spent the same eleven years writing her letters.
What we know of Sarah comes from the people who remember her. She wrote her fours open at the top, "like a little flag." She kept journals her whole adult life. She cooked standing up and talking. She told Tom that the feeling you most want to avoid is usually the one carrying the most information.
Spoilers ahead
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Her last months
Sarah was thirty-one when her last journal began. She lived alone in an apartment on Calloway Street and was raised mostly by her mother. She fell in love with Tom, a kind man, and then watched her life narrow. Her friends Dana, Marcus, and the Kellermans went cool one at a time. She heard about things she supposedly said that she never said. She noticed a car on her street three times and wrote down its color. She kept a column in her journal and wondered if only a crazy woman would.
In February she called Tom eighteen times in three days and left eleven messages. He never called back. Her younger sister, Beth, was five days away. Sarah took her own life. Her mother called Tom to tell him.
In her own words
This part of the story deals with suicide. If you or someone you love is struggling, in the United States you can call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, any time of the day or night.