Speak Softly, She Can Hear

January 24, 2005
Blurbed by Wally Lamb as "a sexy and suspenseful psychological thriller," Lewis's debut opens with shy, overweight New York City schoolgirl Carole Mason heading to a Vermont cabin, where she intends to lose her virginity to handsome but venal Eddie Lindbaeck. Soon after she does, Eddie's friend Rita shows up for a threesome. When a bout of rough sex leaves Rita dead, Eddie convinces the drunken Carole that she broke Rita's neck. Carole's best friend, Naomi, arrives at the cabin, and the three of them dump Rita's body in a snowdrift, swearing to never reveal what has happened. The reader knows (if Carole doesn't) that Eddie and Naomi will use this secret to make her life a living hell. Eddie demands that Carole give him stolen presents, extorts money from her and seduces her mother. Carole responds by leaving college and starting a new life as a waitress in Manhattan. Eddie finds her, and she runs again, and again, winding up in Vermont not far from where they buried Rita years before. Eddie and Naomi turn up and cause more trouble until a final confrontation settles the matter once and for all. There aren't many surprises, but this is well-written and gripping enough that readers will stay up late to see whether beleaguered, tortured Carole can free herself from the despicable Eddie. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh
. 125,000 first printing; 10-city author tour.

November 15, 2004
At preppy Spence, wallflower Carole falls under the sway of oh-so-cool Naomi, then ends up in a cabin in a dark woods, where bad things happen. A debut boasting a ten-city author tour.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2005
It was 1965 when shy, overweight Carole Mason was only 16 and her dreams of losing her virginity to the handsome college-dropout Eddie Lindbaeck turned into a nightmare she could never forget. Her prep-school friend, Naomi, set it all up--a cabin in the woods of Vermont and Eddie to do the deed. After too much alcohol and sex, Eddie invites a strange woman into the cabin. Carole remembers little of what happened except that by the end of the night, the stranger was dead, the body buried beneath the snow, and a secret was born, tying Eddie, Naomi, and Carole to each other forever. Over the years, Carole tries to escape the torment of that night--running away and hiding from Eddie and Naomi, but they always seem to find her. And now, 11 years later, the secret has unexpectedly bubbled to the surface, and Carole has to choose between the truth and running away again. Lewis, in her debut novel, tells an engrossing tale of an unlikely friendship, the burden of keeping secrets, and the insidiousness of lies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)