\n\tFrom the author, Mary Ann Steinke-Moore about the book, Mandy's Song. . .\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOne of the themes of Mandy’s Song<\/em> is the struggle to overcome the temptation to commit suicide during life’s hardest moments. Why would I choose to write about such a dark topic?\n<\/p>\n \n\tI want my novels to show there is a path from despair to hope and even joy.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs a nineteen-year-old, I wrestled with waves of self-hatred and came close to suicide from the emptiness and loneliness of a broken heart. It felt like my life had ended anyway, and it hurt too much to go on.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBut a year later I met a warm, kind man. And a year after that I married him. In time, I became the mother of two beautiful girls.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMy life opened out into the adventure of being a writer, a children’s librarian, a teacher, and a singer in choirs and musicals, discovering an abundance of new friends along the way.\n<\/p>\n \n\tI would have missed so much if I’d killed myself in that time of hopelessness, and my two daughters—and four grandchildren—would never have existed.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSo, with my words I want to encourage others to keep taking one more step forward out of grief into the adventure God has lovingly planned for them.\n<\/p>\n \n\t