Narrative Mindworks spoke with physician and author Shanda McManus about Brother Epistles, her intimate address to her younger brother Monir, who was murdered in North Philadelphia in 1992.
McManus describes the book as a conversation across death. What began as private letters eventually became a memoir that speaks to sibling loss, enduring grief, and the lives too often reduced to statistics.
Brother Epistles also places Monir’s story within the broader history of Philadelphia, including segregation, disinvestment, limited employment opportunities, the crack epidemic, and the 1985 MOVE bombing.
Through storytelling, McManus works to “repair the archive,” preserving a fuller picture of her brother’s life, memory, and humanity.
Listen to the conversation with Shanda McManus.
Read a review of Brother Epistles in Intima, A Journal of Narrative Medicine:
https://www.theintima.org/book-reviews-intima/brother-epistles-a-sisters-memoir-by-shanda-mcmanus
