SOLVED. Adult fiction: two girls, one lives with mom & stepdad, one lives with dad & abusive stepmom. Spoilers ahead.

[Alysia]

I read this book off my dad's bookshelf as a kid, probably sometime between 1999-2004 ish. Based on the content, I'm pretty sure it was an adult novel. It seemed like a modern book at the time. The copy I read was a hardcover, all black, with the title in silver (or maybe gold) lettering. We didn't have the dust jacket. Written in English, set in United States.

It's been a long time and I might have the details wrong, but I think the book follows two girls, one who lives with her mom and great stepdad, and the other who lives with her father and abusive stepmom. I think the father lived near the coast somewhere.

More info (possible SPOILERS) below:






I think the girl who lives with her mom sets a fire to burn down her house, killing both her mom and stepdad. I think she jumps out an upstairs window to escape herself. I think she does this so she can go live with her dad.

I think the girl who lives with her dad is regularly beaten by her stepmom, and I sort of remember a description of her retreating into herself when this happened, and possibly some ghost or alternate personality or something took over her body and protected her from being conscious during the beatings.

[Alysia]

A lady at the library knew it right away! It's called "Second Child" by John Saul.

Thanks everyone!