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Open Book series features an eternal love story
The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library’s Open Book series will feature a talk about an eternal love story by a Toledo author, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Dr. S. Amjad Hussain will discuss his work With Whom Shall I Talk in the Dead of Night, a book of letters written to his deceased wife, published last year (2013) by the University of Toledo Press. The letters were written by Dr. Hussain to his wife Dottie, who died of cancer in 2006 after a partnership of 38 years. The talk is scheduled at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 in the McMaster Center at Main Library, 325 Michigan St.
Dr. Hussain said the idea for writing the book came to him as a way to cope with the overwhelming sense of loss he felt after his wife’s death. He wrote the letters to Dottie as if she was on an extended trip.
“For two years I wrote to her from likely and unlikely places - parks, airplanes, mountain hikes and my favorite chair in my bedroom - to share with her what was happening in my life after passing and also to reaffirm my love for her. It was soothing and healing,” Dr. Hussain states in the introduction to the book.
The book is not only an expression of one man’s grief, but also a celebration of the life he lived with his wife and since her passing.
Dr. Hussain describes both the mundane and the eventful, from the evolution of the lives of his children to his own travels to his home country of Pakistan and his intellectual pursuits. It also includes e-mail from readers of Dr. Hussain’s columns that appeared in The Blade which focused on his feelings after his wife’s death.
Dr. Hussain’s columns appear each Monday in the daily newspaper, and in 2007 he discussed his personal struggles in several of the essays. The columns drew wide responses from readers who shared their own stories of overcoming grief and their support for him in his time of difficulty.
Others who have felt grief over the loss of a loved one might find comfort in Dr. Hussain’s writings. Readers will also find a love story that has not ended.
The talk is free and open to the public. Following Dr. Hussain’s talk, there will be a book signing.
For more information, please contact the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library at 419.259.5200, or the UT Press at 419-530-2170.
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