Abel’s wife Krista was seven months pregnant and the couple had just moved into a new apartment. For some reason, she was reluctant to stay in the apartment by herself and spent a lot of time at her grandmother’s house, insisting that Abel stay there as well. Abel sensed that something was wrong, but chalked it up to the fact that his wife was pregnant, and weren’t all women a little bit different when expecting? One day, however, changed everything.
Krista had gone to the apartment to unpack and didn’t return when she said she would. Abel went to the apartment to investigate, and as soon as he stepped through the door and called out to her, he heard a gunshot. He raced into the bedroom in time to see her slump to the floor, a gun in her hand.
The doctors were able to save the baby, a little girl Abel named Hope. But Hope was brain-dead and was only being kept alive by machine. Abel made the heartbreaking decision to turn the machines off, and so lost both his wife and child.
“Room for Two” is a nonfiction account of Abel’s true story. He tells the story honestly without sugarcoating the mistakes he made, but shows that he learned from them and became a better person from them. We follow him through the aftermath of the double tragedy, and we see him reenter the dating world and his attempts to find happiness again.
I liked the raw emotion in this book. I didn’t feel that the author was trying to make himself out to be the wronged hero—he’s very human and freely admits his failings. I appreciated the look into his life. It must have been difficult to take that journey back and relive the experiences, but I found myself gaining an appreciation for what it’s like to lose someone you love so tragically.
(This book was published in 2007 by Cedar Fort.)
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