Waikato mum Melinda Evans smiles as a childhood memory sweeps over her. It’s of playing with her younger sister Chanelle Haffenden on swings in their backyard as preschoolers, pretending to push each other high enough to grab candy-floss clouds from the sky.
The joyful, innocent moment is Melinda’s favourite memory with her little sister, who died from suspected suicide five years ago. It’s also a stark contrast to other darker chapters that unfolded throughout Chanelle’s 27 years, which are now shared in a memoir she began writing two years before she passed away.
“Chanelle was really good at writing and she used to attend a writer’s group – she
