When the Comfort of Everyday Life Turns Upside Down
In 1984, Victoria had it all: A prestigious job, a large waterfront home, a daughter in college, and two professional friends she met weekly to share work concerns over wine and hors d'oeuvres. She was content.
Then one late night a bedraggled young woman knocked on Victoria's door, a young woman who looked every bit an urchin. Her car had broken down and she wondered whether she could use Victoria's phone. Victoria reluctantly helped the woman/child, and sent her on her way. It was nothing, really.
But weeks later Victoria began to experience what she thought of as "brainteasers," unsettling tricks of the mind that increasingly occurred. Forgetfulness. Doing odd things she'd never done before, some as minor as apparently having squeezed her toothpaste tube in the middle. They were things she swore she had never done. Or had she?
Victoria began to worry, even obsess: Mere distractions? Or worse, some kind of dementia, although she was only 42? Maybe even early onset Alzheimer's? Or could it be prompted by lies of omission? There were plenty in her life.
The stunning truth revealed itself one pitch-black, bone-chilling night in an unpredictable encounter no one could have anticipated - an encounter that would forever alter who Victoria thought she was.
Genre: General Fiction
Used availability for Laura Belgrave's The Sad Lady & the Urchin