Customer Reviews

Forever Our Angels

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Forever Our Angels by Hannah Stone is a collection of heart-felt and heart-wrenching stories from men and women alike that have all suffered child loss. Whether it be from miscarriage or still birth, each loss is unexplainably hard to deal with. I personally don't think it can ever be just dealt with. That child will always hold a special place in your heart and there will be days when you remember something about that day and hurt all over again.

Each story explains how the person felt when they found out they were expecting, how they started to feel when something was not quite right, and the denial and guilt when they were told the horrible news. " I'm sorry, there is no heartbeat, your baby is dead." Crushing all hopes for some that it was not meant to be, and then for others that keep their hopes up of still conceiving in the future.

Miscarriage is more common than most think. 1 in 4 women suffer miscarriage early on; that saying about making it past the 12th week is not always true. The women in this book lost the children at different times throughout the pregnancy; some had to have D&C's when it was still early enough and then others were faced with birthing their dead child.

I am one of the one in four women that have had a miscarriage and I know personally how hard it is once you've lost the little life growing inside of you that you yearn to snuggle with one day. I had the support of my husband and family, but they could not really console me because it was me that had lost the child. I wish I had found this book right after my miscarriage, I believe it would have helped ease the pain knowing that others have experienced the same kind of loss.

Hannah Stone is also the author of Remembering Our Angels, another book on personal stores of healing from pregnancy loss. Ms. Stone's novella was heart warming and can bring a sense of peace to the reader that may have experienced this kind of overwhelming pain. If you are in need of coping or needing to hear other stories to see that you're not alone, then please pick up Forever Our Angels. It will help. 5 Hearts

I ordered this book because I had been personally grieving a pregnancy loss for about five months. I must say that the stories are very personal and detailed..as though the parent were speaking to you.

It was a book that I read in two evenings and I would reccomend it to anyone who is coming full circle with their grief as it offered me some closure in that I am not alone.

The book CAN be a little sad and so I reccomend it with some caution as it may not be appropriate for someone who has JUST suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth, etc.

Finally, I have actually placed the copy of the book near the pictures of my children that I DID have because it reminds me that my losses are FOREVER MY ANGELS.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)


After suffering her second miscarriage Hannah Stone searched for a book that would help her through her grief. Not finding a book that offered the assistance she needed she decided to write it herself. She has successfully authored a book that will support other women facing the same loss and the same feelings.

"Forever Our Angels" tells the stories of parents, mothers and fathers who share their heartache with others so that perhaps their grief will give comfort and support to someone else. I found myself in tears when reading this book. I remember well the heartache of losing two children to miscarry. No one spoke of it. It was as though the children never existed. I was supposed to pick up and go on ignoring the fact that a part of my husband and I no longer existed. I wish there had been a book like this one to offer support.

The poem by Pablo Neruda expresses the grief of losing a child:

"...forgive me
If you are not living
if you, my beloved, my love
if you
have died,
all the leaves will fall on my breast
it will rain upon my soul night and day
the snow will burn my heart,
I shall walk with cold and fire and death and snow
my feet will want to march toward where you sleep,
but
I shall go on living..."

Ms Stone and others courageously offer a glimpse into what they suffered. They offer comfort by acknowledging that a child did exist. "Forever Our Angels" is written simply and elegantly. It is with honor that I recommend this book to those who have suffered a loss or those who know someone who has.

Received book free of charge.

Hannah Stone's "Forever Our Angels" is a touching collection of first hand accounts from both women and men who have suffered through the heartache and loss of a miscarriage. It brought tears of comfort for me from my own personal loss, because it helped me understand that other people were as confused and lost as I was during such a painful time. While this collection certainly will not give grieving parents and answers or a cure, it does allow them to not feel alone.

The layout of the book is simple, with large text (large enough for bleary eyes to read). The accounts are concise and to the point and low on technical terms.

"Forever Our Angels" is a good message to give when you don't know what to say. Death is never easy to deal with, particularly when combined with the loss of potential and what might have been. Hannah Stone's collection wraps a blanket of comfort around those grieving by allowing them to relate to the personal experiences of others.

This is a book about pregnancy loss. Specifically, it includes about 17 non-fiction essays written as 1st-person accounts. Each of the essays is written by a real person who has experienced a miscarriage. The book begins with an an introduction by a doctor of psychiatry, as well as a preface by the author Hannah Stone.

Hannah's conviction that this is a neglected subject is clear, and she herself describes three miscarriages that she experienced. The writers of the rest of the essays range in talent and skill, and the end result has the emotional honesty of a support group, sharing and processing their losses. A few of them are so touching and so honest they're unlike anything else I've ever read.

Take "Gwen" trying to find meaning from her lost baby, Ellie: "Her short life gave me an invaluable lesson. I learned to not take anything for granted. We can say life is a miracle, but I never fully comprehended what a gift it is until it was taken from me. I know Ellie is watching over us. She is my children's guardian angel. And when we meet in heaven someday, I will finally get to hold her in my arms and tell her how much I love her."

Or "Alan" discussing his personal loss as a husband: "The conventional wisdom is that men do their grieving alone but for me, the opportunity to talk to others during the weeks following the loss was crucial. Many people came to me and said things like, 'I know there's nothing that I can say except that we are thinking of you.' These sentiments are what helped carry me through."

I feel like anything I would say at this point might trivialize these essays, and I don't want to do that. Each person's heartache, loss, and honesty deserves more than that, and Hannah Stone deserves praise for bringing this book to publication. It could not have been easy.

Stacey