Call Me Elizabeth Lark
A Novel
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A haunting psychological thriller “with a bone-chilling premise and heart-stopping revelations . . . that will linger with you long after the final page is turned” (Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author).
Your daughter went missing 20 years ago—and now she's back. Your husband tells you she's not the one, but you feel it in your bones . . . What will you do to keep her home?
Twenty years ago, Myra Barkley's daughter disappeared from the rocky beach across from the family inn, off the Oregon coast. Ever since, Myra has waited at the front desk for her child to come home. One rainy afternoon, the miracle happens—her missing daughter, now 28 with a child of her own, walks in the door.
Elizabeth Lark is on the run with her son. She’s just killed her abusive husband and needs a place to hide. Against her better judgment, she heads to her hometown and stops at the Barkley Inn. When the innkeeper insists that Elizabeth is her long-lost daughter, the opportunity for a new life, and more importantly, the safety of her child, is too much for Elizabeth to pass up. But she knows that she isn’t the Barkleys’ daughter, and the more deeply intertwined she becomes with the family, the harder it becomes to confess the truth.
Except the Barkley girl didn’t just disappear on her own. As the news spreads across the small town that the Barkley girl has returned, Elizabeth suddenly comes into the limelight in a dangerous way, and the culprit behind the disappearance those 20 years ago is back to finish the job.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Colasanti's distinctive debut, Elizabeth Lark and her five-year-old son, Theo, show up at the inn owned by Herb and Myra Barkley in Rocky Shores, Ore. Twenty years earlier, the Barkleys' then eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, disappeared from the beach near the inn. When Elizabeth drops a necklace that resembles one Charlotte gave to Myra's other daughter, Myra is convinced that her missing daughter has returned. Much to the skeptical Herb's dismay, Myra welcomes Elizabeth with open arms. Elizabeth, who recently escaped from a cabin in the woods after accidentally killing her captor who'd held her for 20 years, decides she must pretend to be Charlotte so she and Theo can have a home and be safe. Someone else knows the truth, however, and begins to stalk Elizabeth and Theo. Alarming family secrets subsequently surface and put everyone in danger. The author's evocative prose is a joy to read, and the plot contains some great twists. Psychological suspense fans will be rewarded.