Colors of Goodbye—A memoir of holding on, letting go, and reclaiming joy in the wake of loss

by September Vaudrey

• Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

• Finalist, 2017 ECPA Book of the Year, Biography & Memoir

Publisher's Description: Before May 31, 2008, September Vaudrey’s life was beautiful. But on that day, with one phone call from the ER, her whole world—everything she knew and believed—was shaken to the core. Katie, her 19-year-old artist daughter, had been in a car accident and would not survive. How does a family live in the wake of devastating tragedy? When darkness colors every moment, is it possible to find light? Can God still be good, even after goodbye?

Combining literary narrative and raw reflection, September walks through one of life’s worst losses―the death of a child. More than a story of loss, it’s a story of family, love, and hope; a deeply personal memoir from a life forever changed by one empty place. Colors of Goodbye calls to the deepest parts of our spirits—the piece of us that wants to know tragedy isn’t the end of the story, and that life can be beautiful still.

What People Are Saying

This book is a love letter, but it’s also a map: Here is a way through. Not around the grief, not hiding from the pain, but right on through the center of the journey—loss, heartbreak, joy, new life, memories, mistakes, celebrations—all of it. This book is a map for many of us who have been lost in the wilderness of grief of one kind or another. This beautiful book is a hand reaching into the darkness, a voice whispering, I know the way home. —Shauna Niequist, author of I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet, Present Over Perfect, and Bread & Wine

I was swept into a captivating, hopeful, and exquisitely written story. I could not put it down. Colors of Goodbye is a deeply moving memoir that will inspire you and awaken your heart to the goodness of God, even in the midst of your darkest hour. —Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of The Happiness Dare and Growing Slow

I wish you the courage to read this holy labor—and prize the radical hope it will call you to hold. September Vaudrey and her family suffered a loss most of us can’t imagine. She enters it with intense honesty and writes with the lyric power of a poet. I could not read her stunning and beautiful prose without believing even more that death doesn’t win. —Dan B. Allender, PhD, author, speaker, and professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology and founder of The Allender Center