It's late. The phone rings.
The man on the other end says his daughter is missing.
Your daughter.
The baby you gave away over fifteen years ago.
What do you do?
Nora Watts isn't sure that she wants to get involved. Troubled, messed up, and with more than enough problems of her own, Nora doesn't want to revisit the past. But then she sees the photograph. A girl, a teenager, with her eyes. How can she turn her back on her?
But going in search of her daughter brings Nora into contact with a past that she would rather forget, a past that she has worked hard to put behind her, but which is always there, waiting for her . . .
In Eyes Like Mine, Sheena Kamal has created a kick-ass protagonist who will give Lisbeth Salander a run for her money. Intuitive, not always likeable, and deeply flawed, Nora Watts is a new heroine for our time.
THE LOST ONES ESSAY - Sheena Kamal:
I'm sharing with you, readers, the essay from the Author that was included as an insert in the galley I received. I thoroughly LOVE this essay and how she came to write this amazing debut novel. Take the time to read through and then continue afterwards for the reviews from the #CJSReads team.
"With the line "I've had some personal experience with the blues," Nora Watts burst out of my imagination and onto the page. Nora, a woman with a terrifying past, a complicated identity and an artist's soul. A former blues singer who trouble seems to follow around like a horny stray dog that she'd picked up along the way. What other music could capture a woman like that? What better character to write about for my first novel?
The blues became the key to Nora, and it was also the key to my book.
Suddenly, with this musical cue, I understood her and I knew what her story would be. She is a product of an often misunderstood land, a mash-up of fractured identities and influences that I hadn't seen represented in popular fiction before. I don't know how else to explain it, but she excited me. With Nora, there are no easy answers. Only difficult questions, and the vexing woman at the center of a girl's disappearance.
With little more than an idea, I moved across the country, from the east coast to the west, to see if I could write a book. I was familiar enough with film and television writing to recognize structure. What I had was a bit of light plotting, and a character who wouldn't allow herself to sing anymore. Everything else I left up to the obvious way my mind works, and the moody atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest.
Back in Toronto, I'd been going nowhere fast. I had long since abandoned my political science degree and youthful forays into social activism. There was a creative drive to me that couldn't be ignored any longer. I dabbled in acting and film and television writing. I had been a professional actor, stunt double (for children, because I'm a hobbit), extra, devious Muay Thai practitioner, paid note-taker and television researcher. Nothing was panning out. I was stuck in a rut, repeating the same old mistakes, constantly putting myself on the line and only hearing "You have to pay your dues" in return. It didn't feel right anymore and, quite honestly, I was bored.
So I packed up my life and moved to Vancouver.
It wasn't by chance that I chose the rainy west coast as the setting for THE LOST ONES. I had been to Vancouver once before during one of its famous wet winters. I was supposed to stay a few months but managed a few weeks before I threw in the proverbial towel. Not knowing any better, I had stayed in the worst part of town; the downtown eastside. I was shocked at the conditions when I got there. Three weeks of filthy streets, rainy skies, soggy clothes and I'd had it. But something about the experience stuck with me, perhaps it was a seed of an idea that took another several years to fully germinate.
Several years later, living in Vancouver was still a struggle but the rain and the blues kept me writing. This story, from inception to publication, has been about place and music - and the price that a woman must pay in order to save a girl who is the living embodiment of the darkest chapter of her past. As I work on the sequel now, I am still consumed by Nora. She represents one of the most passionate love affairs of my life, and I'm so excited to share her story with the world."
Sheena Kamal holds an HBA in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness. THE LOST ONES is inspired by this and by Kamal's most recent work as a researcher in to crime and investigative journalism for the film and television industry.
Find her here:
This is a story of two women. Lady, a writer currently separated from her husband. She hires a nanny, S, to help take care of her younger son Devin. Her older son, Seth, also lives in the house. As a mute, Lady is very protective over him and defensive to a fault. As S starts to become part of the family, her lies eventually catch up to her. Told alternately from both women's perspectives, we see Lady's insecurities in dealing with her writer's and S's continued art performance and the reasons behind both. 
