Calling Mr Lonely Hearts
By: Laura Benedict
Publisher: William Heinemann
Published: 2009
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9780434017034
Subjects: Female friendship; Fiction; Secrecy
Description: Roxanne, Del, and Alice have been friends since childhood, with Roxanne taking the dominant role. Roxanne is a force to be reckoned with-whatever she wants, Del and Alice will go along with, however reluctantly, from the usual teenage misbehaviours to witchcraft ceremonies in the park. When the girls are 13, she convinces them to back up a ruinous story about one of the priests at their Catholic school. Defrocked and furious, the priest disappears, and they keep it a secret between themselves. Years later each meets a mysterious man named Varick, and within moments of their meeting, Roxanne's, Del's, and Alice's lives begin to unravel. None of them know what he wants from them but they can't help giving it to him. Why is Varick here, and most importantly-who is he? Don't let the title fool you: though it sounds like a Cary Grant film, Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts is extremely scary. Benedict has written a very suspenseful, tense, and sinister second novel.