Just Because You're Dead Doesn't Mean You're Gone

by Sandy Foster Morrison

Sandy, a Texas psychotherapist and closet intuitive, has lost her Scarlett O'Hara of the Texas Pineywoods. After years of conflict, Sandy is unapologetically grateful that their fiery relationship is over. But Wilma Foster has no intention of going quietly into that good night. Graveside at Wilma's memorial, an unknown woman in blue resurrects the last forty-seven shrouded the cruel father who loved alcohol and war more than he loved his wife or daughters, and his gritty clan where men drank and fought, and women prayed. Sandy and her only sister grew up like Miss Skeeter in The Help -- raised by the disdained others who were, in many ways, her true family. In their pioneering oil-and-gas, white-gloved East Texas culture, Sandy and her sister were fatherless daughters severed from their long-forgotten shadow life. Prodded by Wilma Foster's ghost, a collision of those two irreconcilable worlds becomes inevitable...and redemption unlikely.

296 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2011

Reviews

[Lacie Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many years it took for my Mom to write this book ~ so very happy it's been published and so well liked. She has an easy way of telling her story that draws you to the very time and place the story is told. Looking forward to the next book!

[Denise Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sandy Foster Morrison shares the story of her deceased, domineering mother and how she controlled her life before and after death.

Funny and interesting. Incredibly revealing. I keep wondering if extended family members (if they are still alive) are still friends with the writer.

It was like listening to an aunt discussing the family's most intimate and memorable relationships at the kitchen table over coffee and muffins.

The book is not for everyone, but Southern women will most likely enjoy it and at some point, be nodding their heads, smiling, and relating it to the life of one of their own family members.

[d. phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're not "from here," then you might think you know something about East Texas from having watched the recent movie "Bernie." Frankly, the movie is spot on at revealing the snippy, elitist, prejudiced thinking prevalent there (and the horrific twang of speech!).

But this author: grew up there. Her memoir of that experience will make you cringe and groan if you are from here and it will make you exclaim in disbelief if you're not. But I can tell you from my own Piney Woods roots that her account of "how it was (is)" is all true.

Ms. Foster-Morrison has a breezy tone that sets the reader at ease right away. She is fiercely honest, a laudable act of courage, given her ancestry. I commend her for this.

Her story, a black comedy with tragic moments, is the story of "every-woman": how marriage, child-rearing, society and family influence and rule our becoming and if we are tenacious to a fault, as this author, having the will to become who she herself determines to be in spite of overwhelming odds against her, how we survive.

Personally, I deeply identified with the main premise: that those who have left their fleshly bodies have not "died," but in fact carry on communicating with us from beyond, especially when our relationships on this plane have unfinished business.

If you are looking to fantasize and be carried away, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a meaty story, full of unexpected turns and raw emotion, one that will make you laugh and cry, and leave you deep in thought, read this book.

I dare you.