Book description
Claude is a middle-aged man unwillingly attached to Mona, a woman
obsessed with marriage and respectability. Then one night he meets the
exotic Alexandra - regal, tall and spare, skittish and powerfully
independent. When her rich friend Diana falls pregnant, Alexandra and
Claude agree to accompany her to Diana's house hidden deep in the bayou,
where they will assist her with the birth. They are joined by Collie,
the housekeeper and Banjo, a drunken old handyman. At the house, Claude
hears a disturbing and haunting story of a man similar to himself who
was also involved with Alexandra and Diana and was found murdered in a
hotel room. This is a gothic and mysterious tale set deep in the heart
of the bayou. Valerie Martin is the author of two collections of short
fiction and six novels, including Italian Fever, The Great Divorce and
Mary Reilly [the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde story, from the viewpoint of a
housemaid, which was filmed with Julia Roberts and John Malkovich. Her
most recent book is a non-fiction work about St Francis of Assisi:
Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St Francis. She lives in upstate New
York.
