Friends fall out of touch, we run out of time, or sometimes our courage simply fails us—and thank-yous, regrets, feelings, and secrets are left unshared. In 2009, Jackie Hooper came up with a way to help people recapture a moment that had once passed them by. She began asking them to write letters that answered one question: If you had another chance, what would you do differently?

Based on the popular blog The Things You Would Have Said, this captivating collection of letters presents the moving, surprising, and inspiring stories of ordinary people. From the everyday to the profound, at times heartwarming, funny, sad, and wise, these voices range across lifetimes and even across history: an indignant young boy urges his bully to become “a better man”; an old man thanks the woman who protected his family from Nazis during the Holocaust; the mother of a boy with autism atones for the times she picked on an autistic classmate back in high school.

Compelling, cathartic, and achingly honest, The Things You Would Have Said is a journey through the lives of people who have learned that there is always a second chance.