“Tammy Flanders Hetrick's novel Stella Rose proves to the reader that Love is not just stronger than Death, but stranger. Succumbing to illness, a brilliant woman bequeaths her teenager daughter, their home, and a series of instructions for life while grieving, to her best friend. Hetrick deftly studies the ties that bind, unraveling mysteries that complicate and, finally, enrich intimacy.”
—Verandah Porche, author of Sudden Eden and recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Marlboro College

“In this fascinating exploration of the interconnectedness of lives, Tammy Hetrick mines the ways in which relationships both grow and flounder under the stress of devastating disease, familiarity, and responsibility. Stella Rose takes the reader through the volatile territory of adolescence as a teenager navigates unchartered possibilities replete with equal doses of hazard and potential.”
—Yvonne Daley, author of Octavia Boulevard and director of the Green Mountain Writers Conference

“Tammy Flanders Hetrick has written a marvelous first novel. Stella Rose is the dramatic, clear-eyed story of a dying mother who leaves her beloved friend the most precious legacy imaginable: her sixteen-year-old daughter to raise. All three characters—Rose, Abby, and Olivia—are wonderfully likeable, both for their strengths and their human shortcomings. Ultimately, Stella Rose is a celebration of love in many forms, from wildly romantic passion to friendship, and eternal family devotion to an abiding love of the world we all live in.”
—Howard Frank Mosher, author of A Stranger in the Kingdom and Where the Rivers Flow North

“Warmhearted and sincere, Stella Rose is a sensitive portrait of loss, friendship and the families we choose. . . . A big-hearted novel of love and loss, narrated by a woman grappling with grief while caring for her best friend's teen daughter.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers