The day I disappeared from your house was the day Jessie came to my window. I let her inside and she quickly told me the new plan--leave immediately.
So we left, hurrying to Jessie’s car parked at the curb. Once we were inside, she handed me a forged passport with my real name on it.
“Where do you want to go, Grandma?” she said.
I looked through the windshield, gazing at this great big world I had never been able to experience until now.
“Everywhere,” I said.
By the time we reached the airport, I had narrowed it down to Paris. That’s where I now type this letter, from a top-floor apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
Please don’t be angry at me for leaving you the way I did. I beg you. The way life has treated us, you and I have enough to be angry about. Let’s not be that way with each other.
I wanted to tell you, my dear. I didn’t because I feared you wouldn’t let me leave or be angry that I hid so much from you the whole time you were caring for me. And, yes, I selfishly wanted some time alone with my granddaughter.
Who, don’t forget, also happens to be your niece.
You also deserve time with her.
Just as you deserve to finally live a life that belongs to you and no one else.
To that end, I’ve included two one-way plane tickets to Paris. One for you and another for Archie, with whom I’m certain you’ll share this letter. Your flight departs on the first of February. It is my dearest hope that both of you will be on it.
Until we meet again!
Virginia
VIRGINIA HOPE DEAD AT AGE 101
ROME (AP)—Virginia Hope, the key figure in one of the most sensational crimes of the 20th century, died Monday at her villa in Porto Vergogna on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. She was 101.
Hope’s alleged murder alongside her well-heeled parents, Winston and Evangeline Hope, caused a stir in 1929 and shocking headlines 54 years later when it was revealed she was still alive and had been forced to assume the identity of her older sister, Lenora. Thought to be mute and paralyzed, Hope gained even greater notoriety when she admitted she had faked her condition for decades.
“Did I enact the greatest hoax of the century?” she wrote in her bestselling memoir, Still Life. “I don’t think so. But I like to believe it’s at least in the top ten.”
That blend of wit and braggadocio made her a beloved fixture on the talk show circuit, where viewers gobbled up the details of her tabloid-ready story. When asked by David Letterman why she was so eager to talk after pretending she couldn’t for decades, Hope replied, “Just making up for lost time, darling.”
When she wasn’t enjoying her late-in-life celebrity, Hope spent her time traveling the globe, visiting all seven continents, including Antarctica, where for a time she held the record for being the oldest woman to do so.
Hope is survived by her granddaughter, Jessica Oxford, and her husband, Robert; her great-granddaughter, Mary Hope Oxford; and her devoted friend, caregiver, and traveling companion, Kittredge McDeere.
Acknowledgments
Although my (pen)name is on the cover, this book wouldn’t exist without the hard work and dedication of many others working behind the scenes. Thank you to Maya Ziv, my amazing editor, and the incredible folks at Dutton and Penguin Random House, including, but not limited to, Emily Canders, Stephanie Cooper, Caroline Payne, Lexy Cassola, Amanda Walker, Ben Lee, John Parsley, Christine Ball, and Ivan Held. Being part of the Dutton family is a publishing dream come true.
The same can be said of my agent, Michelle Brower, and everyone at Trellis Literary Management and Aevitas Creative Management.
Thank you to the many family members, friends, and other authors who help, support, and inspire me on a daily basis. Writing a book can be a long, lonely process, and your presence outside of my writing cave helps me more than you know. Special thanks goes to Michael Livio, who once again helped me navigate the stress, pressure, and, yes, joy of creating another book. I truly can’t do it without you.
I’d also like to take a moment to salute the many caregivers out there working in hospitals, nursing homes, and in patients’ houses. These often-unsung heroes heal the sick and comfort the suffering on a daily basis, going about their work with diligence, dignity, and pride. You care. Thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Riley Sager is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, most recently Survive the Night and The House Across the Lake. A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.