A chance meeting on the worst day of Lucy's life brings her into the grip of Everard, an enigmatic man who offers to be her rock in a time when she needs one. She's young, and he's just lost his wife of fifteen years. In Lucy, Everard sees something he wants. He convinces her that they need each other, and they end up married. The previous wife, Vera, died in a mysterious "accident" that has left a cloud over Everard. After they are married, Everard becomes erratic, and Lucy can't seem to say anything correctly.
On Everard's birthday, he insists on going back to the house where Vera died. He makes Lucy sleep in the bed where Vera slept, gives her the sitting room where the woman "fell" from the window, eat in the dining room where Vera's portrait stares at Lucy while she eats, and Lucy even has to listen to Everard talk about Vera all the time. He's a vindictive, controlling, manipulative, narcissistic, evil man.
SPOILER:
Vera ended abruptly and left a pit in my stomach. What happened to Lucy? At the end, Everard kicks Lucy's aunt out of the house and forbids her from seeing her niece again. The aunt warns Everard that Lucy doesn't have the constitution to last 15 years like Vera did, and that's the end. I was disappointed, but I'm not sure I wanted to read more of the psychological torture that Lucy was enduring.
Learning the author based this on her second marriage was a bit disturbing as well. I know many marriages are abusive, but it shouldn't happen. The illogical thoughts of Everard and how everything had to be his way 100% of the time was probably all too familiar at the time and even today. It was a well-written book, and I kept waiting for the rescue of Lucy, but it didn't happen. It was still a page-turner, so it gets a Good Book! review.
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