 |
At her twin sister Joanna’s funeral, Esme Cantrell met her brother-in-law Bill Porcher for the first time. Following a whirlwind courtship during which Bill pursued her relentlessly, Esme found herself married to her sister’s widower mere months after Joanna’s demise. But before the ink had dried on their marriage license, BIll’s personality changed drastically. Esme quickly came to anticipate angry outbursts and verbal abuse from her mercurial new husband. Upon moving to Meadoways—the quaint cottage-style home that Bill once shared with her twin—Esme had dreams of a loving marriage and a growing family. But life at Meadoways was far from ideal. Secrets, suspicions, and strange phenomena left Esme unsure whether she was being haunted by her twin’s ghost or driven to insanity by guilt and regret. And with each passing day, Esme began to wonder if Bill was the tenderhearted man with whom she fell in love or a monster hiding behind a facade of deception
The book opens with an account of a present-day session between the main character and her therapist. Garcia uses powerful words to convey the psychological impact of the trauma Esme endured. “…she really didn’t want her therapist thumbing through her terribly broken mind and soul through the rotting decay of her guilt and sorrow….” Through a flashback, readers are drawn into Esme’s nightmarish past. Beautiful imagery establishes Meadoways as a scene of picturesque tranquility. Against this backdrop of idyllic scenery and dreams of domestic bliss, the author paints a starkly contrasting view of verbal abuse and intimate partner violence. Although some proofreading errors and choices of style and structure detract somewhat from the story’s flow, the book accurately depicts the rationalizations, denial, and self-blame characteristic of victims of domestic violence. Incorporating elements of the supernatural, Garcia explores the bond between sisters that transcends even death.