by Taya Kyle
First published 2015
Taya Kyle thought her family had finally found peace. Her husband Chris, a Navy SEAL who served multiple tours in Iraq, had left the military and discovered new purpose helping fellow veterans. Their marriage had survived the long separations and the struggle to readjust to civilian life. Their two children were thriving. Then on February 2, 2013, everything changed. Chris and his friend Chad Littlefield were killed while trying to help a troubled veteran. In an instant, Taya became a widow and single mother facing an unimaginable future. Kyle chronicles the devastating hours and days after the shooting, when grief threatened to destroy her. She describes how friendship, family, and growing faith became lifelines during the darkest moments. Two years later, she has found new meaning by continuing the mission she shared with Chris: serving military families and first responders. Kyle writes with Jim DeFelice about transforming crushing loss into renewed purpose, showing how she and her children learned to honor their past while building hope for tomorrow.
Genres: american, military-fiction, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, loss, resilience, second-chance
Setting: Iraq
Period: 2013
329 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: death, violence