2017 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Lesbian Fiction
After a minor car accident shatters her equilibrium, forty-three-year-old Amanda Ferguson wakes up to a memory of being terrorized by her older brother Adrian, whom she holds responsible for the death of her twin brother thirty years before. Their mother, Eva, blinded by devotion to her eldest son, has locked the truth inside her now-failing memory.
When a client from work invites Amanda to a performance of Harold Pinter's Betrayal, a haunting series of events related to the play resurfaces, including the suicide of Amanda's college lover and mentor, Sarah Moore. As Amanda puts her fractured life back together, the present increasingly echoes her traumatic past, propelling her toward the truth about Duncan's and Sarah's deaths--and toward Adrian. Set against the background of the theater, The Day after Death explores how loss and family trauma affect our ability to connect, trust, and love.
Miller explores the dynamics of triangular relationships, frequently unbalanced and stressful on those involved, in this ambitious novel in which Harold Pinter's play Betrayal is both template and catalyst. . . . Miller's provocative reworking of Pinter's theme will keep readers turning the pages.'--Publishers Weekly
A taut psychological tale. . . . Miller's clever use of Betrayal as a backdrop for the lives of her characters adds to the gravitas of her third stand-alone novel.'--Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
Dangerous lesbian liaisons intertwine with a murky murder in Miller's third novel.'--Kirkus Reviews
An atypical psychological thriller. . . . Miller creates chilling tension and suspense.'--Pasatiempo
A richly layered and nuanced story of a woman dissecting her past in order to fully experience her life in the present. . . . Beautifully conceived and written. You won't want to miss it!'
--Julie Williams, author of Drama Queens in the House
Lynn C. Miller, codirector of the ABQ Writers Co-op and coeditor of the literary journal bosque, was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin for twenty-seven years. She is the author of two previous novels—The Fool’s Journey: A Romance and Death of a Department Chair—coeditor of Voices Made Flesh: Performing Women’s Autobiography, and coauthor of Find Your Story, Write Your Memoir. Miller has performed a number of solo performance pieces and plays about Edith Wharton, Gertrude Stein, Katherine Anne Porter, and Victoria Woodhull.
