The Road to Astroworld:Letters from a Life Broken by Trauma and Survival

On the morning of her brother's funeral in 1980s Houston, all Promise Goodday wants is to go to Astroworld. The lights, the rides, the laughter—anything to escape grief. But when a traumatic encounter shatters her innocence, her dream of freedom twists into a struggle for survival. Haunted by rainstorms that trigger buried memories, Promise descends into choices that carry unbearable consequences—including the death of her own child. Locked inside Rust Hills, a state hospital for the criminally insane, she begins to write letters: confessions, memories, and visions that blur the line between guilt and resilience. Through those letters, Promise confronts the storm inside her. She relives childhood games with her sister, faces down the figures that stalk her memory, and dares to speak truths no one will hear. Each letter is both a reckoning and a fragile step toward redemption. The Road to Astroworld is a haunting coming-of-age novel about grief, trauma, and the dangerous beauty of hope. With echoes of The Color Purple and Don't Cry for Me, Charles Harvey gives voice to a Black girl's journey through loss and survival, and her refusal to let her story end in silence.