There’s something strangely liberating about e-mail: Things you’d never say aloud tend to slip out. Maybe the impersonal nature of the medium makes being earnest that much easier.

The mysterious powers of written communication — and the strange configurations of modern families — are the backbone of Donorboy, a just-released novel from high-school-teacher-turned-writer Brendan Halpin. It’s the story of Rosalind, a 14-year-old who’s sent to live with her biological dad, Sean, after her two mothers are killed in a freak road accident. Sean is a thoughtful yet vaguely pathetic bachelor (sorry, buddy) whose sole contribution to Rosalind’s life until this point came in a cup. Neither father nor daughter can decipher what to say to the other in person, but they slowly warm up over e-mail. With additional help from friends, family, and a grief journal named Fluffy, the two wounded souls figure out how to live with loss, sorrow, and — most important — each other.

Whoa. Did we just write that? Must be the computer.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.