Thursday, October 1, 2020

Before she was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney

 Helen Stephens has a quiet existence in the Sun City community, surrounded by other seniors and enough diversions to make her retirement interesting.  She spends her days teaching Latin part time, playing cards, and socialisng with her closest neighbours.  It's not an exciting existence, but she doesn't want exciting, she wants peace and quiet - peace and quiet mean no one will uncover her secrets.  The biggest secret she hides is that Helen Stephens is not her real name, her real name is Clementine "Clemmie" Lakefield and she is hiding from her past.  For decades she has hidden from her past, living as Helen Stephens, doing nothing to attract attention to herself - all that changes in a single morning.  Clemmie has a key for her next door neighbours house, a secretive and anti-social man named Dominic "Dom" Spesante.  The key was for emergencies, a grudging little bit of trust after he had a bad fall and wasn't discovered straight away.  

When Dom doesn't answer her daily check in text Clemmie lets herself into his unit, and in the process of looking for him discovers a door in the garage that connects Dom's unit to the end unit - a unit that is empty most of the time, the owners barely seen.  Letting herself into the end unit Clemmie has a look at the sterile looking unit and discovers a glass sculpture that captures her attention.  Snapping a quick picture with her phone she sends the image to her grand niece and grand nephew, two of the only family she has left.  It is a moment that she quickly lives to regret because the glass sculpture is more than it appears, and the owner wants it back.  For years Clemmie has lived in relative safety and security, but that is all about to change in more ways than one - and she may finally have to face her past.

Before she was Helen was a completely absorbing read that I read in a single session because I didn't want to put it down.  This book has two stories woven together by Clemmie.  In the present we have Helen, a single semi-retired woman who carefully keeps her family and community lives separated - complete with separate cell phones.  In the past we have Clemmie as a teenager and young woman who has to deal with something no woman should have to - a past that could be exposed by events in the present.  With a character driven story and fast pace this is a book that is easy to read, despite some of the themes and situations, and it will be very interesting to see if Caroline B. Cooney writes more adult novels as this was a thoroughly absorbing read.

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Reviewed by Brilla

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