SEND ME SOMEONE

Author: Diana Von Welanetz Wentworth ISBN: 155166710X 8/2003 0312322453 Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S GRIFFIN
WOMEN'S NON-FICTION

Diana and Paul von Welanetz were a storybook couple. Their courtship was a transcontinental whirlwind. The enchantment of their first days together seemed to grow richer through twenty-five years of marriage. Regarded by friends as a perfect match, they were even named "One of L.A.'s Most Romantic Couples" by Los Angeles magazine. But one day, Paul was diagnosed with cancer. Diana was devastated. Soon afterward, in rapidly declining health, Paul told her, "I don't want you to be alone." She replied, "Then send me someone!" He responded, "I will." That promise is at the heart of the extraordinary story told in Send Me Someone. It is both a romantic love story and a credible account of communication with someone from "the other side": an engaging, real-life tale that proves that true love never really dies.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I was a little bit hesitant, at first, to list this book among our Novel Thoughts reviews. Since Romance Reader at Heart deals mainly with historical and contemporary romance fiction, and SEND ME SOMEONE seemed to be an autobiographical non-fiction story, I didn’t think it would quite fit in with the rest of our reviews. To be totally honest I was even a little perplexed as to why it was sent to me to read.

However, since finishing it last night I decided that, yes, it would be appropriate to include it along with the rest of our fiction reviews, for SEND ME SOMEONE represents what all romance novels strive to portray, no matter the subgenre they are written in, and it’s something that few of us in real life are ever lucky enough to find: our one true soul mate and a love that lasts far beyond the realm of our own physical and spiritual being.

Author Diana Von Welanetz Wentworth writes a moving and poignant narrative of her life with her first husband, Paul, mixing elements of the present with flashbacks into their 25 year marriage. She shares with her readers many intimate, beautiful, and I’m sure at times painful memories of their loving life together, before his untimely death from cancer. She then moves us forward into her current marriage and her belief that Paul is responsible for sending her someone to love anew. SEND ME SOMEONE is an inspirational and moving journey of a man and woman who loved wholly and completely, and of a woman who accepted her grief, faced up to her loss, and bravely set out to create a new life and find happiness in the here and now, with a little bit of help from the hereafter.

Nancy Davis