The Palisades

Gail Lynn Hanson

Hardcover

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Silver Medal Winner:Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards -General Fiction (2024)

Dorothy Fiske, eighty-three, adores movie stars, jewelry, murder mysteries, and men. At twenty-five, inspired by Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury, she moved to Los Angeles from a religiously strict Midwestern home. Despite the glamour, Dorothy, heartbroken, was childless. She blamed her sweet, unambitious husband, Eugene, claiming his sperm was weak, but Dorothy knows the truth. Ruth, a sixty-six-year-old home health aide, fears eviction from her LA apartment due to her unusual, antisocial behavior. Previously fired from a nursing facility for residents dying under her care, Ruth targets Dorothy, a widow from a wealthy family in Pacific Palisades, California. Lonely yet prideful, Dorothy hires Ruth as a "lady's maid." Ruth accepts the position and masterfully entwines herself into Dorothy's life because she wants to live in Dorothy's house, alone. The Palisades is a deliciously spun psychological suspense brimming with dark humor in which two women develop a peculiar relationship amid a miasma of Ruth's disturbing memories and Dorothy's pervasive delusions of old Hollywood. Poverty and privilege mingle, companionship turns bizarre, and identity is questioned as the women desperately try to fulfill their shared yearning for motherhood.

Book Details

Publisher: Slippery Fish Press
Publish Date: Oct 24th, 2023
Pages: 324
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 0.88in - 1.42lb
EAN: 9798988287421
Categories: • Thrillers - Psychological• Literary• Noir

About the Author

Hanson, Gail Lynn: - Gail Lynn Hanson has lived in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two children. She holds a BA in environmental biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a master's in creative writing from the University of Denver. Gail is a longtime member of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver. She founded a kitchen design firm, Studio H, where she currently works to create beautiful culinary spaces. Gail enjoys gardening, baking, and traveling to rural places when she is not arranging cabinetry or words.

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Praise for this book

"A wonderfully claustrophobic tale of obsession and self-delusion... The author excels at acclimating the reader to the logic of her characters, which is effectively deployed for moments of both repulsion and humor... Hanson deftly conveys how celebrity fandom becomes its own sort of grotesquerie for all involved; the twists are many and fun, but there's a real darkness here that sticks with the reader after the book is finished."

Kirkus Reviews

"Gail Lynn Hanson demonstrates an exceptional ability to immerse the reader n the minds of her characters.

Hanson effectively captures the absurdity of celebrity fandom but also delves into the darker aspects of the phenomenon.

Overall, the book is a rollercoaster ride of twists and turns that is sure to leave a lasting impression on readers."

Midwest Book Review

The Palisades is a hypnotic page-turner that provokes uneasiness and bouts of remorse for deeds undone. It is a book that is painstaking about detailing the minutiae of consumerism, ownership, and superficiality. A psych-horror undercurrent ripples through the story, twisting sentence fragments into moments of profound insight, only to scupper the self-reflection by drowning it beneath a multiverse of internal psychoses. It's a brilliant peek at the bejeweled ghosts of Hollywood who always keep their secrets hidden.

Foreword/Clarion Reviews 5/5 Stars