Virtual Book Tour: Room for Two by Abel Keogh

Room for Two by Abel Keogh

Abel Keogh reached home just in time to hear his wife shoot herself in the head causing not only her death, but also the death of their unborn baby.

Keogh is a good writer and tells his heartbreaking true story with honesty. There are times when I can feel his fuzziness as he goes through the motions of calling the police and going to the hospital in hopes of saving the baby. And yet other times within those moments where his observations and memories are crystal clear. He's able to describe unimportant sights and sounds giving solidness to an otherwise ethereal situation where nothing makes sense and the ability to string two coherent thoughts together disappears. And that's the way bad situations are. Some things are remembered clearly and yet other, more important things are cloudy. Keogh illustrates this very well.

There are no answers as to why Krista did this. She left no note and the only reason that becomes clear is that she may have been suffering from a mental illness.

But the story isn't so much about what Krista did, as it is about how Abel coped with what she did.

To be honest it surprised me how quickly he was able to get back into the dating scene. Now this is probably because I've been divorced for five years now and I'm still not dating (mind you, I don't live in Utah either so that has something to do with it, and I'm not in my twenties, or a man, or have abs of steel), so I can't imagine dating someone within months of losing a spouse so tragically. That's not saying I'm judging him, I just can't quite wrap my head around it. But this is his story not mine.

With a great deal of honesty, Keogh tells us his experiences finding someone to love and learning to love again. It was interesting to me to see the dating world of Utah. One young woman in this story takes it upon herself, within a couple of weeks of dating, to assume that marriage is involved . I couldn't help thinking "Abel, run!"

With sensitivity, Abel is able to understand the difficulties of a young woman marrying a widower. I can't imagine that would be an easy decision for her to do.


Oh, and the cover is very pretty. Not that that's important. Wait it is. A good cover makes you pick up the book. It has a good cover.

There's lots of running in this book. Abel and his girlfriend run like thousands of miles a day. It's like Forest Gump or something. Not that I don't admire it. I've tried running. It's hard.


I enjoyed this book and would recommend it, especially to those who have lost a spouse. Keogh is a good writer. It couldn't have been easy writing this book and then sharing it with strangers.

I was able to ask Abel a few questions and he actually answered me.

This is such a difficult and personal subject. What made you decide to write the book and have it published?

There were two motivations to write Room for Two. The first was a lack of any compelling memoir about losing a spouse. I read, or tried to read, a lot of books about people who went through similar experiences and found them to be completely worthless. The second was that a lot of people who were reading my old blog - most of whom had not lost a spouse -- told me I had a story that could help and inspire a lot of people.

How have those who know you reacted to it? For instance, Jennifer comes across as possessive and presumptuous. Did you talk to her about it before doing it?

The reaction from those who know me and my story before the book has been overwhelmingly positive. Most everyone is happy to get answers to questions about my late wife they were afraid to ask or talk with me about. I didn't talk to Jennifer or anyone else about the book before I wrote it. The only person who read drafts and revisions was Julianna.

Do you and Julianna still run together and does she still do marathons?

We still run together on Saturday mornings. Having three young children makes running together at other times impossible. On Saturdays we take the kids with us by pushing them in running strollers. Those runs together are the highlights of my week. Julianna still runs marathons but not as many of late. Pregnancy has a way of interfering with long runs.

Have you done any marathons?

I ran one about six months after Julianna and I were married. It's probably the last long run I'll run too. My body's has a hard time with runs over 13 miles. I'm more of a 5k or 10k guy.

Have you talked to your children about Hope?

Our kids are too young to understand that they have a half-sister in heaven. Part of the reason Julianna encouraged me to write the book was because she wanted our kids to know our story and how we met. I'll plan on telling them about Hope when they're a little older.


Did you ever read more of Krista's poems and journals to better understand why she did what she did?

I eventually combed through everything she wrote the year before she died but was unable to find any clues to why she killed herself. Krista's journal writing became very erratic in the months leading up to her suicide. She stopped writing about six weeks before she died. However the writing doesn't sound like Krista. Even though the entries are in her handwriting, when I read it, it seems like someone else wrote it.


If there was some advise you could offer to those who have gone through similar experiences, what would it be?

Don't let the suicide of a loved one stop you from living your life --
even if you don't know why they did it. Life's too short to spend being miserable and sad. Press forward and make the best of the hand you've been dealt.

You can reach the author and read his blog at Abel Keogh.