Until It Was Gone

Until it Was Gone

Franklin and Laney Stafford’s 40th anniversary meant to celebrate their enduring love, instead marks the beginning of a tumultuous period in their lives. This milestone sets the couple on a challenging journey to repair severed and estranged relationships. Along the way, they confront personal struggles, face a modern illness, and unearth long-hidden secrets. As they navigate their complicated relationships and confront their turbulent past, hope seems elusive—until a life-changing accident shifts their perspective. Will this pivotal event bring their fractured family back together, or is fate steering them toward a different outcome?

Available in:

Paperback and E-Book

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Laney announces to Franklin at their fortieth wedding anniversary dinner that she is leaving him, the lives of every member of the family are changed. Through conflict, covid, mass shooting, abortion, and more, this family will find forgiveness, resilience, and hope.

Laney leaves for the Oklahoma panhandle in search of Roz, their estranged daughter, who left home at sixteen, and the nineteen-year-old granddaughter, Maggie, Laney has never met.

Shortly after she leaves, Franklin contracts Covid which morphs into the long-haul form. His episodes of fogginess and disorientation awaken memories of abuse at the hands of his father.

Gretchen, his sister, comes to take care of him. Four years earlier her husband was killed in a mass shooting in her small town. Soon she will return home to give her victim impact statement at the murderer’s sentencing.

Maggie, the granddaughter, becomes pregnant and due to medical complications needs an abortion, but she lives in a state where it is outlawed. What will she do? Where will she go? Will the family find the resilience to come together for everyone’s sake?

“This book was fantastic!”

Net Galley

Jer L, Reviewer

“Moving, compelling, and engaging…a must-read…”

Goodreads

“Readers who appreciate realistic, emotionally charged

narratives will find this novel both engaging and rewarding.”

Literary Titan

“…engaging storytelling…dialogue is excellent…handles

deep themes with a touch of humor and warmth…”

Readers Favorite

“Emotionally demanding and profoundly rewarding…”

Indies Today

“Seaburn creates a thoroughly engrossing contemporary story of a family in turmoil… It’s perfect…for individual(s)…book clubs and reading groups interested in the intersection between family growth and social change…Libraries that choose Until It Was Gone for their collections will want to highly recommend it to readers...”

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

Editor, Donovan's Literary Services

“This is the third of Dave Seaburn's books that I've reviewed and he is an author to whom I am keen to return again and again. His books are well-written with a clear thread and purpose and I lose myself in them totally, with no jarring jerks in continuity or other, like odd plot turns or characters I can't grasp, so I'm never taken out of my involved reading. For me, this is the most crucial sign of a good read: to become immersed and invested in what you are reading.”

Reedsy

Rachel Deeming

AWARDS

Until It Was Gone

ABOUT THE BOOK

WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING...