Mona Olsen is a midwestern housewife in her midsixties. As matriarch of her family, she is the one common thread tying together the vastly different lives of those around her. When she kills herself, however, that thread is left dangling, and it can either be used to draw her loved ones closer together, or to sever their ties forever.

"Her Favorite Month" explores what happens when people who live an outwardly happy existence take their own life, and the inexorable ways their suicide affects those who loved them.

Full of insight, reflection, and just enough humor, the story follows a...