Wow. This is an absolute beautiful bildungsroman and I'm not even ashamed to say that it made me cry.

Eddie and his family are on a plane from New York to Los Angeles. The plane crashes and Eddie is the only survivor. He moves in with his aunt Lacey (his mother's sister) and uncle John all the while missing his mother, father and especially his older brother Jordan. The story alternates between the stories of all of the people who are on the plane and Edward's life (he decides to go by Edward after the crash) as he's trying to come to terms with what happened.

We learn that Edward becomes friends with Shay, his next door neighbour, attends school with her, visits Dr Mike, a therapist, and helps his principal look after his ferns all while trying to find his place in the world after such a tragedy. His relationship with Shay is wonderful and it's such a moving story of grief and how to cope with his feelings and what he should do for the best. The family members of people who died in the plane write to him, hence the book title, and he decides that he needs to live for them.

Even though I knew the outcome of the plane crashing, the writing is exceptional and I was filled with tears at the last letter.