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IMPROVISING CARLA
by Joanna Hines
Pocket Books UK, March 2002
472 pages
6.99 GBP
ISBN: 0671029088


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

For Helen North holidaying alone, the Greek Island with its vine-covered terraces, wide sands and blue sea, is more beautiful than any photograph could portray, but when the holiday was planned she was part of a couple and four days into her holiday her bravado at holidaying alone is ebbing away, with all manner of problems never dreamed of.

So when sitting in a pavement café writing postcards, she is hailed by a young woman who travelled out on the same flight, she is delighted to meet a kindred spirit, also on a solo holiday. But meeting Carla Finch is to change Helen's life irrevocably and forever.

Within only hours of their meeting, Carla is installed at Helen's hotel and the tone of the holiday is changed. For Carla has an unceasing restlessness, constantly scanning the faces of the tourists, as though searching for someone. Sometimes confident, sometimes anxious to please, but always seeking to move on to the next experience. Although never made explicit, they both have an unspoken agreement not to talk about their real lives, so outrageous fantasy is the order of the day.

Meeting up with two Americans, Glen and KD, provides the holiday romance, but after too much to drink Carla becomes jealous when Glen pays attention to Helen, and walking back to their hotel, in the early hours of the morning they squabble, and then Carla Finch is dead.

Back in England, struggling with remorse and guilt, Helen finds it impossible to take up the strands of her old life. Maybe the only way to rid herself of the nightmares is to understand Carla, and so she begins to walk in Carla's footsteps to meet the people she knew, to learn about her life.

As she becomes immersed in Carla's life, Helen submerges her own identity in an effort to atone for Carla's death. But the more she learns, the more she realises all is not as she perceived, nor are the people who surrounded Carla. Obsessed with her own guilt, Helen herself distorts the facts in an effort to both protect and punish herself. But does she really know the truth, about Carla, and about her death?

This is an incredible book. I was gripped from the first sentence 'These days I see Carla everywhere'. The writing is wonderful. I will admit that I favour psychological thrillers and I put this up there with the best that I have ever read.

NOTE: This is a review of the hardcover edition which is out of print. The US edition is also out of print, but amazon.co.uk has the paperback in stock.

Reviewed by Lizzie Hayes, October 2000

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