LETTING GO covers a timespan of nearly thirty years in the protagonist's life; she's twenty-five when the book begins and in her mid-fifties when it ends. It deals with the ways trauma affects our lives and how people deal differently with life-altering events, including war; the realization that although we think we know people, even those we're closest to, we don't and never will; the only constant in our lives is change; and coincidences are remarkable occurrences that give richness and meaning to our lives.