Claudia's Shadow

Rowena Graham inherits the home and restaurant of her sister Claudia after Claudia’s apparent suicide, but isn’t convinced that her sister would have committed suicide. Claudia quickly leaves behind her old life as head librarian after remodeling the house that hadn’t been changed since they were children. Claudia goes to work in the upscale restaurant, wears her sister’s expensive designer clothes and shoes and drives her Mercedes. Rowena’s relationship with Claudia had always been turbulent; Claudia was unpredictable, self-centered and often cruel. After Rowena discovers Claudia’s habit of videotaping her ... antics with a string of lovers, Rowena is even more suspicious that one of the lovers might have been involved in her death. Claudia’s former therapist, with whom she claimed she had been having an affair, takes an interest in Rowena but she is reluctant to pursue the relationship with him and somewhat suspicious of his motives.As the secrets, lies and distortions of her family life gradually unravel, Rowena is even more disturbed with her sister and deceased, alcoholic mother. Rowena had been made to feel for years that she was the plain, ugly unsuccessful sister. Her mother lied to the children for years about the disappearance of their father after the divorce when Rowena was 7. The book explores the devastating effects of FAE – Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. With the support of some wonderful friends, Rowena starts to get her life back on track and eventually solves the mystery of Claudia’s death. As in other books by Charlotte Vale Allen, you feel you know the characters so well that they have become part of your family, and you are reluctant to leave them behind when the book ends.

I recently discovered Charlotte Vale Allen by reading "Illusions", one of her older novels. I become so deeply meshed in the story that I literally wept at the end. I was emotionally drained and in a daze! She has a way of getting inside a woman's psyche. You know in your soul that she is an expert on the subjects about which she writes. "Claudia's Shadow" follows the theme that you just never really know a person, not even your own sister. I was captivated until the very end. I highly recommend her books. I'm working my way through all them. I've not been disappointed yet and I'm on my seventh one!