Only Daughter

In this chilling psychological thriller debut, one woman’s dark past becomes another’s deadly future. In 2003, sixteen-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared. She’d been enjoying her summer break: working at a fast-food restaurant, crushing on an older boy and shoplifting with her best friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen—a presence in her room at night, periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched—though Bec remained oblivious of what was to come. Eleven years later she is replaced. A young woman, desperate after being arrested, claims to be the decade-missing Bec. Soon the impostor is living Bec’s life. Sleeping in her bed. Hugging her mother and father. Learning her best friends’ names. Playing with her little brothers. But Bec’s welcoming family and enthusiastic friends are not quite as they seem. As the impostor dodges the detective investigating her case, she begins to delve into the life of the real Bec Winter—and soon realizes that whoever took Bec is still at large, and that she is in imminent danger. Praise for Only Daughter “Twisty, slippery, and full of surprises, this web of lies will ensnare you and keep you riveted until you’ve turned the final page.” —Lisa Unger, New York Times–bestselling author of Ink and Bone “[A] dark and edgy debut. . . . Truly distinctive and tautly told, Only Daughter welcomes a thrilling new voice in crime fiction.” —Mary Kubica, New York Times–bestselling author of The Good Girl “Snoekstra’s excellent debut stands out in the crowded psychological suspense field with smart, subtle red herrings and plenty of dark and violent secrets. Recommend to genre aficionados and readers who enjoyed Lisa Lutz’s The Passenger.” —Library Journal (starred review)

When two holy sisters discover a little girl in the woods and take her back to an orphanage, she mysteriously insists that Jesus is her brother. The child's spiritual powers are gradually revealed, and she is adopted by a gambler and his mistress. A harrowing, high-stakes adventure ensues. Are the strange events that surround this child of God true miracles meant to deliver redemption for the people in her life? Or is she simply a precocious child? God's Only Daughter is an entertaining and thought-provoking tale that takes place near the end of WWII. Told alternately through the voice of the little girl and that of one of the nuns who found her, author Damon Galeassi delivers a unique and moving story of salvation and love. Author Bio: Damon Galeassi grew up in small town outside of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He now resides in an eco-village called The Quarries in Virginia, situated on the top of Walton's Mountain, where the ghost of John-Boy lingers, along with real-life moonshiners. Mr. Galeassi is the author of A Sixties Book aka Spiderwort, a psychedelic, anti-nuclear tale of the construction of Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant. He also has written a collection of short stories, Twelve Tales of Trepidation, available on Amazon Kindle. He is currently developing the sequel to God's Only Daughter. Publisher's website: http: //SBPRA.com/DamonGaleassi

Rachele Luzzatto is the only daughter of a Jewish family in northern Italy. Curious and intelligent, she is caught between her interest in religions – her own and others – and her father's violent rejection of them all. A disagreement ensues between them about the part she is given in the school nativity play. At the same time, she discovers that her father is ill; the severity of his illness is only revealed to her very gradually while her teacher, various members of her family and even her rabbi offer her wide-ranging and humane support. A.B. Yehoshua paints a complex, and humorous, picture of conflicting religious identities and historical memory in this tender character study of a young girl at the threshold of adulthood.

This book is a rare testimony of a fascinating and thrilling biography of the only daughter of a privileged Gambian couple in Faraba Banta village. Tumbulu was raised under excessive and indulgent parental attachment, and she was not well accustomed to the myths and the traditions of the Mandinka culture as other girls are. In the dawn of her adulthood, clouds darkened the horizon over her as challenging mishaps circumvented her life—a life her mother created. “I told you so,” her mother said when time witnessed her most awkward predicament that rendered melancholic boomerang on her family.