Lovely Faces
A sapphic psychological thriller novel by R. Trickey
Story
To what lengths will Julia go through to reignite her girlhood flame, and who will get burned in the process?
Setting and Characters
A guide to the lovely places and faces inside this book.
Behind the Curtain
Take a peek inside Lovely Faces, and come to know the inspirations behind this novel...
Story
Julia will never forget that warm summer afternoon in 1973...
When Connie and her father moved in next door to her childhood home, Julia fell deeply in love. From watching her new neighbor from the window, to sharing clothes, and making dolls of the two of them, she did anything to make her fantasies with her beloved Connie real. In return, Connie showed her everything she kept hidden from the rest of the world.
Now, forty-three and recently widowed in the year 2002...
Julia's father suddenly passes and she, along with her twenty-one year old daughter Heather, must return to Morro Bay. There's a funeral to arrange, but returning home rekindles many nostalgic temptations for Julia... with the past aching to return, to once more rear its lovely face...
A story of persistent love, from idyllic childhood to complicated present day.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
Death, Suicide, Sex, Drug and Alcohol Use, Stalking, Graphic Violence, Child Neglect and Abuse, Gore
Setting and Characters
Morro Bay, California. A cozy, quiet town along the Central Coast. Home to Morro Rock, the large volcanic plug just off the shore, a vast state beach, and a harbor lined with niche boutique shops, interesting enough to get tourists to pull off Highway 1 to visit. Morro Bay is where Julia has called home from when she was born to when she married, but this place will always hold a very special place in her heart.
Julia Miller
The protagonist and main voice of this novel, Julia Miller successfully presents herself as the perfect mother and wife with a doll business on the side. From a glance, she seems like another welcoming, unassuming housewife. That's because when a housewife is unassuming, people forget that appearances can and will deceive them.
All her life, Julia believes that everyone around her, friends and family alike, are all out to get her, to make her the antagonist of her own story. But when she meets Connie, she finally realizes she had just met the only person who will see her for who she is, the only one who will ever actually love her. But what would happen if Connie wasn't the safety Julia initially thought she'd be?
Concetta "Connie" Marino
Connie Marino, the second voice of this story, radiates charisma and beauty like the sun radiates light and warmth. Everyone loves her, from parents to teachers to, when she inherits ownership of her family's auto shop in adulthood, every satisfied customer who encounters her. For the longest time, she is a shining light in the small, seaside community that is Morro Bay, California.
However, looking at the sun for too long can make one blind, and Julia soon finds herself privy to an extremely manipulative, violent side of Connie that few know about. Will she do the sensible thing and head for the protective shade, or will she let herself burn?
Andrew Hernandez
A boy who fell in love with the wrong girl, Andrew Hernandez was a caring man. A wonderful husband to Julia, a wonderful father to Heather, and a wonderful person who, despite all odds, was thought to be managing all mental health difficulties keeping him from being the best person he could be for those he loved quite well.
He was a lawyer with a busy yet successful firm, he was close with his family, and had a wide variety of friends and neighbors who loved him, as well. So naturally, when he started showing signs of spiraling again, this came as a huge shock to everyone who thought he was doing so well. What's more, not long after he began to spiral, he took his own life. A devastating loss to everyone who knew him.
Heather Hernandez
The daughter of Andrew and Julia, Heather tended to gravitate more towards her father than her mother. She simply got along better with him, not that it's particularly easy to get along with Julia. But now that her father is gone, she finds herself backed into a corner, trying her best to tolerate her mother until she can move out somewhere she won't constantly be forced to walk on eggshells.
She is an aspiring photographer, a student who just finished her third year of college in spite of Andrew's death. The sudden losses in her family make things more than difficult for her, but she is trying her best to stay strong. It's only a matter of time before she can put all this behind her, after all.
Behind the Curtain
Inspirations
I took inspiration from many different places and media, including but not limited to the works of Poe - specifically The Tell-Tale Heart and Annabel Lee - F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and finally, the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles.
Act One, Chapter Two
And in that instant, everything about my life gained meaning.
My heart stopped. My world stopped — or rather, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that my world no longer revolved around myself, but around the girl who stepped down from the truck on that warm August day in 1973.
Nothing existed to me in that moment, there was no past nor future. In all fourteen years of my life thus far, I’d never felt anything like this about anyone before. I’d never been so instantly obsessed with anyone like this before.
Act One, Chapter Seven
It always gave me more time to make sure all the dolls I wanted to sell were in pristine condition.But that didn’t mean I didn’t have my personal projects, either. I had a particular doll I’d repainted just for myself, as a treat. Real hair was much more difficult to work with than the synthetic hair I was used to. Detangling it from the mess I’d collected off her hairbrush during many consecutive visits to her house over the last few months was the biggest obstacle I’d faced in my years as a doll restorer. I thought it would be impossible, but I did it.
I made her. I made… Connie.
An off-brand Barbie doll from the bargain bin at the local toy store hardly did her justice, but I wasn’t quite confident enough in my sculpting skills yet to create a ball-jointed doll of her — not to mention, Barbie dolls were less likely to make my parents suspicious. Once she was complete, I felt unstoppable. Her doll counterpart was perfect. From her outfit to her two beauty marks painted perfectly, symmetrically on her face, I’d completely outdone myself. Using Connie’s actual hair brought the whole thing together in a way much more magical, much more personal way than I ever would have imagined. The euphoria I felt cradling this doll in my hands was indescribable. I was so proud of how she turned out.
Act One, Chapter Eight
I heard the sound of her rummaging through her jewelry box, then the metallic swish of something I couldn’t quite place. I could feel her approach me slowly, lowering her voice so that nobody would be able to hear even if they happened to walk by Connie’s room.
“I want to do nothing more than to cut up that beautiful, freckled skin of yours.”
She shoved me hard, causing me to fall backwards. I let out a pained grunt when I slammed into the floor, and I opened my eyes just in time to see Connie climb on top of me and pin me down so I couldn’t move. Slipping my turtleneck collar down slightly, she pressed the blade of the pocketknife in her hand against my throat.“Do you love me, Julia?”
Acknowledgements
(To Be Written)