Legacy Letters
True Memoirs of Love, Marriage, Family, and the Hopeful Journey through Betrayal and Loss
About perseverance through faith, Legacy Letters is a moving memoir.
Stephanie Livingston’s epistolary memoir Legacy Letters is about growing a family, the ups and downs of marriage, and religion at the turn of the century.
Livingston, who grew up in a religious family, dreamed of falling in love and having children. She met and married Kevin; they had four children. But between her gratitude for her life and the antics of her children, difficulties simmered. Kevin was never there; he betrayed her trust, leading her to do the same.
Told through a mix of journal entries, biblical quotes, and everyday, unembellished language, this is an emotion-filled text. Celebrating particular moments, the book flits from subject to subject, including downpours and the arrival Livingston’s firstborn child. Dreams are a frequent theme, used to reflect Livingston’s changing mental state and to illustrate particular lessons:
What was that dream all about? I questioned myself, trying to remember the details that unfolded upon waking early that morning… . This dream seemed to be warning me that something was coming that would be bigger than what I could manage on my own.
The book’s treatments of the past are insightful, exhibiting rear-gazing compassion toward Livingston’s younger self; there are also discussions of the marital dangers of a lack of communication, disrespect, and too-high expectations.
Livingston’s religious beliefs center the book. Indeed, there are frequent detours to explain theological ideas about marriage and gender roles; biblical quotes appear, too, though not all have clear connections to the surrounding material, and some act as filler. Often, though, Livingston’s faith is a powerful component of the book, such as when she argues for respect for her and her work as a parent and wife on the grounds that “Like a man, a woman is created equal.” Indeed, questions about faith, family, and living out one’s values run throughout the book, undergirding its accounts of familiar personal tests in the forms of infidelity, confinement, and property.
Despite the domestic scale of the memoir, the text is compelling, focusing on the push-and-pull of daily life with self-awareness. Punctuated by joy, the wonder of becoming a parent, consciousness of dangers beneath the surface, and a sense of Livingston being being pushed to her breaking point, the story is often evocative. Livingston writes about trying her best and being as loving as she can be in spite of her doubts, mistreatment, and the general exhaustion of being a parent; in such moments, the book is vulnerable and appealing.
A reflective memoir, Legacy Letters discusses family and marriage through the lens of faith.
Reviewed by
M. W. Merritt
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
