She opened her eyes so that she could draw back and look at him. His expression was so full of longing that her heart and stomach both flipped. She loved him. He loved her. This was how it was meant to be.
She raised up on her tiptoes and kissed him again. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I haven’t either.’ She led the way into their new bedroom. ‘We’ll work it out together.’
A LETTER FROM JEEVANI
Thank you for reading This Stolen Life. I really hope you enjoyed the story!
This is a story that I knew I wanted to tell, but wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to find a home for it. Soma, Yamuna and Bim came in my mind fully formed. I left them as scribbled notes in a notebook and wrote five other books (under my pen name Rhoda Baxter) before I came back to them and gave them some proper attention. I’m incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to share their story with you now. Written under my real name, too!
If you enjoyed reading This Stolen Life, please, please leave a review. It doesn’t have to be long. I’m always grateful for even a few lines that say whether you liked the book or not. Quite apart from cheering up my day (thank you!), your reviews can help other readers decide whether to take a chance on a book by a relatively unknown author. They really do make the world of difference.
I wanted to write a story about postnatal depression and two women who were both united and divided by their love for the same baby. When I wrote about Yamuna, I drew from my own experience of postnatal depression. Unlike Yamuna, I had a sharp-eyed health visitor who spotted the signs and made me get help within a matter of weeks. Who knows, if it hadn’t been for her intervention, I may have ended up paranoid like Yamuna. If you have been through it - you are not alone.
I knew there needed to be something more and the missing element fell into place when I read The Last Magdalen by Wilkie Collins and started thinking what would happen if someone stole an identity and made a whole new life for themselves now.
I would really love to hear what you think of the story. So, apart from writing a review (hint, hint), if you want to chat to me or ask questions, I’m usually hanging around on Twitter as @jeevanicharika (or more often as @rhodabaxter). Come say hello.
If you fancy a peek behind the curtain (and a free short story), you can join my newsletter group at http://subscribe.jeevanicharika.com/TSL
Happy reading
Jeevani
Website: www.jeevanicharika.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This Stolen Life was a book that took a long time to get from embryonic idea to a book you can actually read. In that time, we moved house from Didcot in Oxfordshire, to East Yorkshire. We found Hull to be a really friendly place, but even after the UK City of culture events, people didn’t seem to know about it, so it seemed only natural to set the book there. Yamuna’s house is made up, but the area in the Avenues really is full of gorgeous old townhouses.
Where was I…? Oh yes, saying thanks.
Thank you to Federica Leonardis to taking this book on and making me polish it more and more, so that it was the best book it could be. Thank you also to Keshini and Lindsey at Hera for believing in it enough to publish it! And for having a brown girl on the cover. You have no idea how happy that made me.
Thank you to Jen Hicks, who is my writing buddy and always my first reader. You’re the best.
Thanks to the Romantic Novelists Association for being such a brilliantly supportive organization. Special thanks go to the ladies of the Naughty Kitchen who have provided a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on, encouragement, reassurance and a lot of laughter over the years. I don’t think I’d be as sane as I am (which isn’t saying much, admittedly) without you.
As always, thank you to my family who put up with me rambling on about people who aren’t actually real and don’t complain (much) when it’s the fishfingers for tea too many times. I love you. I couldn’t do this without you.
Last of all, but definitely not least of all, thank you, dear reader, for reading this book and making it all worthwhile.
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Hera
Hera Books
28b Cricketfield Road
London, E5 8NS
United Kingdom
Copyright © Jeevani Charika, 2019
The moral right of Jeevani Charika to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781912973088
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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