Just Jennifer

Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie (St. Martin’s, July 9, 2013)

Geniver Loxley has been unable to get over the death of her daughter Beth at her birth eight years ago.  Once an author with a promising future, Gen has begun teaching writing classes at a local college, though her heart is not in it; her husband Art has been urging Beth to try fertility treatments that will enable them to have another child, but Gen can’t bear the thought of losing another child.  A stranger arrives on her doorstep one day telling Gen that she is the sister of the nurse who was in the delivery room the day Beth was born and that Beth did not die, but was stolen from Gen, is still alive and that Art was in on the crime.  Gen cannot believe that Art would be involved in such a thing, but as she begins to look into the veracity of the woman’s claims, she realizes that her sister, now dead, may have been telling the truth.  Gen tracks down the people who were in the delivery room that day and realizes that Lucy’s sister was telling the truth and that her Beth may in fact still be alive.  Filled with twists and turns and a woman on the edge, Close My Eyes begins with a parent’s worst nightmare and ends with a shocking conclusion few will see coming.