Everything She Forgot - by Lisa Ballantyne (Paperback)

About the Book

"They're calling it the worst pile-up in London history. Driving home, Margaret Holloway has her mind elsewhere-on a troubled student, her daughter's acting class, the next day's meeting-when she's rear-ended and trapped in the wreckage. Just as she begins to panic, a disfigured stranger pulls her from the car just seconds before it's engulfed in flames. Then he simply disappears. Though she escapes with minor injuries, Margaret feels that something's wrong. She's having trouble concentrating. Her emotions are running wild. More than that, flashbacks to the crash are also dredging up lost associations from her childhood, fragments of events that were wiped from her memory. Whatever happened, she didn't merely forget-she chose to forget. And somehow, Margaret knows deep down that it's got something to do with the man who saved her life. As Margaret uncovers a mystery with chilling implications for her family and her very identity, EVERYTHING SHE FORGOT winds through a riveting dual narrative and asks the question: How far would you go to hide the truth-from yourself...?"--

From the Back Cover

Some things aren't meant to be remembered . . .

They're calling it the worst pileup in London history. Margaret Holloway is driving home, but her mind is elsewhere--on a troubled student, her daughter's acting class, the next day's meeting--when she's rear-ended and trapped in the wreckage. Just as she begins to panic, a disfigured stranger pulls her from the car seconds before it's engulfed in flames. Then he simply disappears.

Though she escapes with minor injuries, Margaret feels that something's wrong. She's having trouble concentrating. Her emotions are running wild. More than that, flashbacks to the crash are also dredging up lost associations from her childhood, fragments of events that had been wiped from her memory. Whatever happened, she didn't merely forget--she chose to forget. And somehow, Margaret knows deep down that it has something to do with the man who saved her life.

As Margaret uncovers a mystery with chilling implications for her family and her very identity, Everything She Forgot winds through a riveting dual narrative and asks the question: How far would you go to hide the truth--from yourself?

Review Quotes

"On one level, Lisa Ballantyne's The Guilty One delivers riveting courtroom drama that is unflinchingly true to its characters. At another level, its personal story resonates with love, forgiveness, and the possibility of redemption. The Guilty One will touch your heart even as it leaves you unsettled." - Hallie Ephron, author of There Was an Old Woman
"This absolutely die-hard, spell-binding story has readers locked, as they try to solve the mystery of a man who has far more secrets than you will possibly imagine. This is a 5-star read if there ever was one." - Suspense Magazine
"Thought-provoking, brave, and challenging." - Rosamund Lupton, international bestselling author of Sister
"Ballantyne's effortless prose took me across the Atlantic and didn't let me return until its surprising and satisfying conclusion. A tight story that comes full circle and keeps you reading." - Bryan Reardon, author of Finding Jake
"A sweet novel of love, redemption, and loss that chronicles one family's struggle with a difficult past." - Kirkus Reviews
"Ballantyne weaves a fine tale of family drama, dark secrets, and the past's effect on the present. The threads seamlessly come together in a heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, finale." - Publishers Weekly
"A moving and sensitive mystery about childhood trauma and its resolution." - Booklist
"Childhood is a perilous country in Lisa Ballantyne's psychological suspense novels, so bleak and hostile that even grown-ups hesitate to go there...Taken individually, these biographical histories of Margaret and the man she knows as Maxwell Brown give structure to the narrative; taken together, they give it a living, beating heart." - New York Times Book Review
Praise for The Guilty One: "Sophisticated, suspenseful, unsettling, and highly recommended: a terrific debut from an author to watch." - Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"One of the best debuts I've ever encountered" - Daily Record
"Lisa Ballantyne has written a first novel that is both moving and suspenseful; richly detailed, yet with the eerie simplicity of a parable." - Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times bestselling author
"A page-turner" - Cosmopolitan (UK)
"A child-on-child murder drives Ballantyne's searing debut . . . [A] scalding exploration of childhood violence, adult refusal to forgive, and redemptive love." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)