Reviews: (by author)

Shafer, Audrey. The Mailbox. New York: Delacorte, 2006. ISBN 0-385-73344-5. U.S. $15.95/ $21.00 CAN. Ages 8-12.

In Audrey Shafer’s first novel, The Mailbox, she gives us a lovely and profound novel about loneliness, love, connection, and redemption. Eleven-year-old Gabe comes home from school to find his guardian, Uncle Vernon, dead. In shock and not wanting to return to the foster care system, Gabe tells no one, and the next day he goes to school. But when he returns home, he gets another shock: his Uncle Vernon’s body is gone. In the mailbox Gabe find a mysterious note telling him not to be afraid. And in this anonymous note writer the boy finds a confidante.

For months Gabe lives alone and takes care of himself. Through flashbacks we see the relationship between him and his uncle who was a Vietnam vet, a relationship both loving and healing for both of them.

But this is a mystery novel as well as a drama. Who is sending Gabe notes? What was the note writer’s relationship to Uncle Vernon? Why won’t he show himself? And the biggest mystery of all: how long can Gabe keep his uncle’s death a secret?

Audrey Shafer’s The Mailbox is an emotional novel. You could even call it a tearjerker. It’s a different kind of love story reminiscent of Johanna Spyri’s Heidi in which an orphaned little girl suddenly finds herself left with her grandfather whom she’s never met before. Both stories feature a child and adult who are thrown together and form a loving, nurturing relationship, to everyone’s surprise. Also, as with Heidi, although the main characters experience pain and suffering, The Mailbox is not tragic. The ending is satisfying and happy, yet not trite or simplistic.

For those who don’t care for tearjerkers, readers might want to read the book for the mystery. Shafer does an excellent job creating mystery and not just with the notes in the mailbox. Gabe and Vernon are mysterious characters. We’re not given the background of their lives in the beginning of the book nor are we told how exactly these two came to be together, but because they’re intriguing characters, it makes you want to keep reading. And you do eventually get answers to all the mysteries.

It’s also easy to get hooked into Shafer’s understated and lovely prose:

“You ever wonder if there’s a heaven up there, Gabe?”

Streaks of light had marked the silent November sky as Gabe and his uncle lay on the back of the pick-up, legs stretched out over the tailgate to watch the Leonid meteor shower almost a year before. Vernon had roused Gabe from his bed at two in the morning, and they had dragged blankets to the truck. Gabe had been wrapped in the heavy plaid one. He’d wondered if that was why Vernon so frequently searched the sky—if he was trying to see heaven.

When Gabe didn’t answer, Vernon had continued. “Sometimes I gotta believe there is. It can’t all be for nuthin’—that’s a cruel, sick joke.”

“My momma’s in heaven.” Gabe had finally spoken. His quiet voice puffed small clouds in the chill.

Vernon had twisted to look at his nephew. “Yes, you’re momma’s in heaven. I guess you do understand after all, don’tcha.” (p. 79-80)

Audrey Shafer’s The Mailbox is a beautiful, down-to-earth story and a fine first novel.

Marie Soriano, June 2007

Back to reviews R-T