What Happened To….?

Comment:

What happened to Amy Sheldon? And did Denise Whitlock kill herself because you were trying to show how serious teenage suicide is?

Phyllis replied:

As with many of the characters in the series, her life is open-ended; I couldn’t follow the dozens (hundreds?) of people who appear in the books all the way to Alice’s 60th birthday.  But Alice certainly helped Amy feel better about herself, and I’m hoping that there are good things waiting for her.  Denise killed herself because she didn’t have enough help dealing with the feelings that–to her at the time–seemed worse than dying.  Teenage suicide is a serious problem.  Anyone’s suicide is tragic.  I’m just happy that I can say that I’ve known several people in my life who had tried suicide that didn’t work, and later have been able to say, “I’m so glad I’m still here.  If I known, back then, how good I was going to feel now…..”