What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Her Living Image
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
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SOLVED. Woman leads two separate lives: in one she marries; in the other she's single, loses toes an accident, later has affair w man married to her alternate self! Cover shows the 2 versions next to each other. British, 80s or early 90s. [s]
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Thank you, Ayshe! None of the Goodreads covers for this match, nor does the ebay edition that you linked, but I think this book must be it. I read one of the Goodreads reviews and the reviewer referred to "Carolyn" and "Caro," which sounded familiar, and when I did a Google Book search inside the book I found the part about her toes being amputated ("I doubt if we can do much for them. We'll probably have to amputate. But it's not the end of the world - after a few months, she won't even notice. Just a question of adjusting her balance slightly. They're not enormously useful things, toes." ... The toes were amputated later that week. It made not difference at all to the way she felt, or to the pain.) So I am pretty sure that this is the book, although I'm going to look a little further to see if I can track down the cover I remember....
Yes. On, like, *one* web site, I can find an entry for this book that includes the cover I remember, for edition 978000654144. This is indisputably the book. THANK YOU AYSHE!
So what I did not remember from the book that I am now piecing together by reading about it: the point of divergence is the accident, and one of the lives has actually been dreamed (the one in which she marries?) But Caro still has an affair with a man while he is married to herself, Carolyn, which is apparently strange to other readers as well. And single Caro is not an artist as I had remembered, but a landscape architect/designer. I'll have to physically get hold of a copy of this at some point, just to settle my questions about it, and now at least I can do so!
So, Her Living Image by Jane Rogers, first published in 1984.I am obsessive enough that, if the edition I remembered reading shows up on Goodreads at some point, I will attempt to link to that. I'd try entering the correct edition myself but am not sure that I can reliably replicate the info based on what I'm seeing (generally I prefer to have the book in hand when I'm doing that), and the one cover image I've found online is unsuitable. (https://www.boek2.nl/541832-thickbox_...)
Great! You're welcome. I had found it in google books for another thread, where it turned out not to be correct book, but my search was of use after all :)
I am so excited that this was found, I cannot wait to read the book itself.
I don't remember the exact point of divergence, but the lead is a young woman who decides to stay or not stay with her boyfriend, or to marry or not marry a fiance, or maybe she's choosing whether or not to pursue a higher education or a career. I don't remember a lot about the first scenario, mainly that she leads a more sedate and married life, and later her husband has an affair (more on that in a minute.) In the secondary timeline she starts going by a nickname, pursues an ultimately successful career as an artist, and gets in a car crash or some other accident in which she loses one or more toes. The loss of her toes is not something that the book focuses on overmuch. She adjusts to walking differently on that foot but it doesn't present any major drawbacks significant to the plot. It's just another point of departure between the two lives.
Now things get weird. Although it's the same woman, living two different lives, the artistic single version of the woman begins to have an affair with the husband of her alternate self - and yes, he *is* married to her alternate self. So it's not *really* two separate timelines? That is to say, both versions of the same woman seem to be operating/living their lives in the same reality. Perhaps the the divergent timelines/two separate versions of the same woman shouldn't be read completely literally but more as a sort of magical realist flourish? As far as I know no one in the book recognizes or is freaked out that this is the same woman, although the husband reflects that his lover reminds him of his wife in some ways.
The book reads and was probably marketed as mainstream/women's literature rather than as sci-fi/fantasy.
The cover for this book had no background (may have just been white, off-white, or bluish) and featured the two women sitting side by side: either both front facing, or possibly with one front facing and one in profile. I think the one woman looked rather blanched (almost ghostly) and was wearing bluejeans and had red hair. The image is drawn or painted; it's not photographic.
I thought that I'd already found this book on Goodreads and added it to my list of books read, but I've tried going my list and not found it. Granted, the list froze part way through. -_-
It's not "My Real Children" by Jo Walton, which was only published a few years ago and which we're going to be discussing in a book club. (Hence my trying to remember this earlier book I read 20-plus years ago.) --> Book club has come and gone since posting.