Almost Strangers

Thus begins Delsa Winer's engrossing novel, at once terrifying and full of hope. When her mother dies, the shattered Ursula retreats for distant shores, abandoning Daniel, her lover, and the safe boundaries of her life. Meanwhile, Daniel's wife, Cissy, is tormented by a different loss -- she knows of her husband's betrayal -- and she, too, leaves. Both women end up in the same plane crash, and each ventures into the world unknowable and unable to return to the past. The mystery of their fates is the force that drives this emotional journey through the many faces of female identity in all its beauty, chaos, and compassion.

At once ironic and moving, Almost Strangers is a love story, a suspense story, and a novel about starting over.

How two women seek and embrace freedom is at the heart of Delsa Winer's stunning first novel
"At fort, Ursula Korfield Gant believes she is independent of the usual pleasure people seek and connections they covet. She lives alone, although there are men who've had, for a while, resident status."

Thus begins Delsa Winer's engrossing novel, at once terrifying and full of hope. When her mother dies, the shattered Ursula retreats for distant shores, abandoning Daniel, her lover, and the safe boundaries of her life. Meanwhile, Daniel's wife, Cissy, is tormented by a different loss -- she knows of her husband's betrayal -- and she, too, leaves. Both women end up in the same plane crash, and each ventures into the world unknowable and unable to return to the past. The mystery of their fates is the force that drives this emotional journey through the many faces of female identity in all its beauty, chaos, and compassion.

At once ironic and moving, Almost Strangers is a love story, a suspense story, and a novel about starting over.

Publishers Weekly

"How many parts of yourself can you lose... and still be yourself?" Two women, both in love with the same man, lose much in this melodramatic first novel of self-discovery by short story writer Winer. Once happily independent, 40-year-old Ursula Gant takes stock of her life after the loss of her beloved mother, Ruth, and begins a rapid slide into depression. Ursula lives alone in Boston on the income from her mother's investments, meticulously managed by New Yorker Daniel Dorfman. Daniel is married to the beautiful, insecure Cissy, but has been having an affair with Ursula for two years. When Daniel fails to respond to her pleas for help, Ursula knows she must make changes and catches the next flight to anywhere, which happens to be Athens. Ursula doesn't realize that Cissy knows about the affair and has followed her onto the plane, intending to kill Ursula in Greece. When the plane crashes, Cissy's body is never found, and she is declared legally dead. Ursula, severely burned, is afflicted with total amnesia. After her face and body have been reconstructed, she sets out to discover who she is, assuming the name of Lucy Snowe (there are many literary references). As Lucy travels through Europe, she keeps sighting a beautiful blonde woman, and it quickly becomes clear to the reader that the woman is Cissy, who miraculously walked away from the plane crash and has started a new life in Europe. The two begin an uneasy friendship based on their mutual need for companionship and understanding. This unlikely partnership leads each woman to self-realization and an understanding of who they want to be. Despite its many improbabilities, the novel exhibits some strong writing and provocative ideas. It's not a denigration to call this an intelligent women's book, and as such, it has significant potential for word-of-mouth sales. Agent, Lisa Bankoff. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Delsa Winer has written short stories for The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Boston Globe Magazine, Working Mother, Tikkun, and other publications. The recipient of numerous literary distinctions, including the Capricorn Novel Award and a fellowship from the Massachussetts Council on the Arts, she lives in Lincoln, Massachussetts.