Following an ectopic pregnancy, Leslie Austin finds that she has lost her ability to remember names. The effort to rebuild the memory bank so essential for a journalist, unsettles her with an awareness about gaps in her childhood memories. For the first time she asks why are there no photographs of her as a child? And why can't she remember anything before the age of five?
During this difficult period, Leslie finds a human interest wire story about the twenty-fifth anniversary of the disappearance of four-year old Ruth Eden, a story that resonates with Leslie in an alarming way. Haunted by memories of a meadow, a car, and family tensions haunt Leslie until she contacts the Edens. But when Leslie locates the man who may or may not be her father, she learns that truth is convoluted and that it is no easy thing to re-enter a family.
"The story Janice Law has created in 'Voices' is taut, engrossing and evocative of the mystery of memory and how it informs our identities," says Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of 'The Deep End of the Ocean'
The genesis of this novel goes all the way back to a news story that made a deep impression on me as a child: the disappearance of a young girl from a summer camp in Litchfield County. Growing up in a rural area myself, I was struck with the mystery and finality of someone going for a walk on a country road and never returning.
Many years later, I read a follow up story about a woman who claimed to be the missing camper returned and in a few lines of type, I had my story.
What the critics say about earlier Janice Law novels:
"What starts out as a humdrum tale of a smug, worldly college professor and an off-the-wall student takes a sudden twist into murder and mental torture in this fine novel from the author of "The Night Bus" (2000)....Law sucker-punches her readers with this superbly written thriller. The initially quiet narrative inexorably picks up speed and steamrolls into a riveting conclusion that will have hungry fans in line for her next serving of murder magnificent." Publisher's Weekly, Dec 10, 2001
"A fascinating look at the inner workings of academia, an intense character study, and a tension-filled plot: Law's best so far." Kirkus Reviews
Although she can be unforgivingly funny about the loose morals and smug attitudes of academe, Law draws a sympathetic, even tender studye of a self-centered but essentially decent soul in the kind of torment that isn't the least poetic." NYTimes, Feb 2, 2002.
"Author Janice Law manages to offer a sympathetic yet painfully frank look at a man who can't quite grow up. As a writer, the Connecticut university teachers who leives part-time in Pompano Beach provides an insider's portrait of academia. Her plot has a quiet beginning, but it grows to a tension-filled crescendo." Sun-Sentinel. Mar 10, 2002.
"An innovative novel that chronicles one woman's journey as she explores her sanity and her life...The story will keep you hooked." Romantic Times Bookclub on The Night Bus. "Law powerfully evokes Cath's uneasiness and rising tension, all in a narrative style sometiems verging on the poetic but always suspenseful. A superior performance, inarguably the author's best to date" Kirkus Reviews ( starred review) on The Night Bus.
Janice Law Home Page