The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel
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Authors: Mj Roë
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 Mj Roë
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1-4392-2279-7
ISBN-13: 9781439222799
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-61550-133-5
LCCN: 2008911933
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For my husband Denny and daughter Kirsten (who reminded me in 2008 to “go confidently in the direction of my dreams” à la Thoreau).
CONTENTS
DEAD, AND YET ALIVE:
‘TIS A DOUBLE STORY.
-TEUCER
EURIPIDES’
HELEN
In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was involved in a horrific car accident in Paris. In the year following the accident (the timeframe during which this story takes place), there was considerable suspicion that she was not dead, indeed had not been in the accident at all. Conspiracy theories proliferated around the world. While this is a work of fiction, my intent was never to identify what happened to Diana but to tell the story with that situation as the backdrop.
It is an old Corsican game. All that is required is a set of players and a map. The player who is “it” has three responsibilities: to decide what “prize” is to be found, put it in place, and draw a map for the others. The map, always circular in nature, must have seven turns. Players do not know what they will encounter at the seventh turn. The game has been known to turn deadly.
Paris, France, August 1997
Diana, Princess of Wales, was thirty-six years old, desperately happy, and desperately unhappy. Desperate to avoid the media, who at once admired and hounded her. Desperate to keep her life private. It was the end of August, and she could trust no one. There was only one way out. As she reached for the phone, it rang.
“What is it?” she snapped. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me at this number again?” She knew that the phone would be monitored.
There was silence on the other end.