{"id":6029,"date":"2026-04-09T12:36:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6029"},"modified":"2026-04-09T12:36:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T12:36:00","slug":"invisible-threads-by-maureen-walgren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6029","title":{"rendered":"Invisible Threads by Maureen Walgren"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tender account of a mother\u2019s\u00a0 grief after a devastating loss and the countless echoes of love it leaves behind<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Invisible Threads<\/em> is a deeply affecting portrait of loss and resilience that begins with every parent\u2019s worst nightmare: the sudden death of Maureen and Doug Walgren\u2019s sixteen\u2011year\u2011old son, Corey. What started as a regular, mundane day on January 11th, 2017 became the moment that split their lives into a before and an after.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the pages that follow, Maureen Walgren offers a raw, emotionally grounded account of how her and her family\u2019s lives were forever changed by unimaginable loss and how love, memory, and resilience continued to guide them through the darkest years of their lives.<\/p>\n

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The process of grief is different for everyone, and in Invisible Threads,<\/em> Walgren shows it as it is\u2014confusing, heavy, and most times completely unbearable. Walgren asks the question no parent ever wants to ask: \u201c<\/strong>How do I keep living with the death of my son?\u201d <\/em><\/strong>The memoir doesn\u2019t give a perfect answer because there isn\u2019t one. Instead, it shows her trying. She looks for comfort in therapy, grief groups, conferences, and even medium. Some things help for a while. Some don\u2019t. Nothing takes the pain away completely. In time, Walgren, as well as her readers, begins to understand that while the journey through grief doesn\u2019t ever truly end, it does become manageable with intention and time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is striking to see how Walgren navigates not only Corey\u2019s death but also the other circumstances surrounding his death, like with the series of events that followed shortly after\u2014the passing of other family members, the disorientation and chaos of the COVID years, and the emotional and physical strain of a long legal battle. Life does not stop for grief. It keeps moving, with bills to pay and responsibilities still waiting. Even after losing her first child, Walgren still had two other children who depended on her. She had to find a way to guide them through their grief while carrying her own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Walgren writes with simplicity and does well in properly cataloging the events that transpired through the past eight years. Some precious moments in the book come through her memories of Corey as a child, family pictures shared in the book, social media posts, and even the recounting of his wake where over 2000 well wishers of family, friends, and community came to say goodbye. The parts that explore the impact Corey had on others are among the most bittersweet in the memoir. They feel almost like a quiet tribute, a way of ensuring that his presence continues to live on.<\/p>\n

While painful, Invisible Threads<\/em> is a hopeful story too. There are days that feel lighter and dime<\/em> moments that bring real happiness. This memoir reminds us that though grief takes time, there is a world where you can heal, love, and smile again.<\/p>\n

The post Invisible Threads by Maureen Walgren<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tender account of a mother\u2019s\u00a0 grief after a devastating loss and the countless echoes of love it leaves behind Invisible Threads is a deeply affecting portrait of loss and resilience that begins with every parent\u2019s worst nightmare: the sudden death of Maureen and Doug Walgren\u2019s sixteen\u2011year\u2011old son, Corey. What started as a regular, mundane […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6029\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}