For my grandmother, Ba

This is part of the Bittersweet Book Launch case study, where Dan Blank and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore share the yearlong process of launching her novel. You can view all posts here.


By Miranda Beverly-Whittemore


I dedicated Bittersweet to my grandmother and my grandfather, “For Ba and Fa, who shared the land,” because they not only brought the place into my life that Bittersweet‘s landscape is based upon, but because they instilled in me a love of books and reading from the beginning. Their house is the only place that has been there for my whole life- every other person in my extended family has moved. But their kitchen, and view, and lake, and  care for all of us when we were with them, means the world to me.

She passed on this weekend- the last of my grandparents to leave- and although I’ll miss her, I’m glad to know she lived such a long, full, happy life. And that she made- and will continue to make- so many beautiful memories for her family.