The Advent of Lena, A tale of Beauty and the Beast
Unhappy Beast sets out to involve the shining soul of Beauty in his spiritual rebirth . . .
When a stranger in a bar loudly comments on her appearance, Chloe Lambert can only assume that the remark which cut her to the bone was for him simply a casual aside. Park Delafield, however, struck down for his savagery by a friend of Chloe's, is visited in his humiliation by the insight that only she can save him from remaining the despicable individual he has become.
He sets out to win Chloe but she, bewildered by his attentions and repelled by his egotism, wants no part in his quest. Until his persistence, combined with her own curiosity about his true personality and motives, soften her distrust of his sincerity. Warily she allows him into her life, thus seeding hurricanes of self-discovery, reckless commitment, and searing betrayal through which all involved journey toward disaster . . . or liberation and redemption.
The Story Behind This Book
A few years ago, one of my sons and I were having a midday drink in a City of London tavern. Some fellow customers, lunch break evidently over, started to head our way ― making for the exit, which happened to be close by us. As we stood aside to let the group filter by, my attention was snagged by the appearance in passing of the ugliest female I had ever seen in my life. The words just came out ― too loud: "How ugly is that?" "She heard you, Dad, she heard you," my son protested, appalled, and disgusted. And I knew she’d heard me ― I had seen it in her stricken eyes as she passed. I never will forget that look. The incident will haunt me to my dying day. I often wonder how she is ― how life has treated her, how she’s coping with the burden of her looks. I hope she’s found love and happiness, someone to adore her. This novel is a tribute to her, that stranger, and personal act of exorcism.