Caroline Leavitt - Pictures of You

Praise for Pictures of You

Pictures of You is a magically written, heartbreakingly honest snapshot of the people we leave behind and those we cant let go, a portrait of the full spectrum of the human heart. Caroline Leavitt is one of those fabulous, incisive writers you read and then ask yourself, Where has she been all my life?

Jodi Picoult, author of House Rules

Riveting and poignant and deeply moving. Caroline Leavitt has given us a beautiful and hypnotic exploration of the ways we healand, yes, the ways we dont.

Chris Bohjalian, author of Secrets of Eden

Caroline Leavitts new novel is an achingly wise tale about how each of us tries to shape our deepest sense of self, challenged not only by other souls in a similar pursuit but by the very forces of life itself, be they happenstance or destiny. In Pictures of You , Caroline Leavitt is a splendid writer at the peak of her powers.

Robert Olen Butler, author of Hell

I have long admired Caroline Leavitts probing insight into people, her wit and compassion, her ability to find humor in dark situations, and, conversely, her tenderness toward characters other writers might merely satirize. All these qualities are on display in Pictures of You .

Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply

I was mesmerized from the opening pages. Caroline Leavitt is a masterful storyteller. Here, she has created an elegantly structured, emotionally resonant novel that begins with tragedy but quickly moves beyond it to the biggest questions in life: What do we do with what has been handed to us? How do we find redemption within loss? How do we open our hearts, knowing all that we know? This is a beautiful book.

Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion: A Memoir

Pictures of You is a complicated and complex near-mystery of a novel I found it impossible to put this book down. Leavitt is a writer who can be trusted absolutely, and shes created a wonderful book thats as complicated, crushing, and joyous as life itself.

Robb Forman Dew, author of Being Polite to Hitler

Pictures of You is the story of two women, both running away, whose fates intertwine forever. Leavitt writes straight into the heart of each scene to find its rich, emotional nuances and undercurrents.

Kate Christensen, author of Trouble

Heartbreaking, suspenseful, and moving, Pictures of You contains all the elements I long for in a great story. This irresistible novel of families betrayed and dreams come true is wise in the ways of the human heart, a manifestation of hope, tragedy, and beauty.

Diana Abu-Jaber, author of The Language of Baklava

The extraordinary intersection of four lives sets the scene for this complex and deeply moving novel about love, loss, and letting go. In Pictures of You , Caroline Leavitt presents a deeply felt story youll be thinking about long after youve turned the last page.

Michelle Richmond, author of Dream of the Blue Room

Pictures of You is an enthralling amalgamation of a literary mystery and the story of one womans search for self-fulfillment. A stunning coincidence results in a cruel fate, but the redemptive power of love offers the possibility of a second chance. Caroline Leavitt has written a page-turning novel; her characters spring from the heart.

Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route

Caroline Leavitt has been a book club favorite for years and her latest novel will be no exception This domestic drama is compelling and moving.

Book Group Buzz, Booklist Online

PICTURES OF YOU

NOVELS BY CAROLINE LEAVITT

Girls in Trouble

Coming Back to Me

Living Other Lives

Into Thin Air

Family

Jealousies

Lifelines

Meeting Rozzy Halfway

Pictures of You

A NOVEL

C AROLINE L EAVITT

Published by
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225

a division of
WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014

2011 by Caroline Leavitt.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada
by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Anne Winslow.

Portions of Pictures of You , in slightly different form, appeared in The Bellevue Literary Review and The Best of the Bellevue Literary Review .

This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leavitt, Caroline.
Pictures of you : a novel / by Caroline Leavitt.1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-56512-631-2
1. WomenFiction. 2. Life change eventsFiction.
3. Domestic fiction. 4. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3562.E2617P53 2010
813.54dc22 2010009362

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition

F OR J EFF AND M AX ,
THE LOVES OF MY LIFE ,
FOR ALL OF MY LIFE

PICTURES OF YOU

O NE

T HERES A HORNET in the car. Isabelle hears a buzz and then feels a brush of wing against her cheek. A grape-size electric motor sings past her right ear. Whats it doing out in this weather? she wonders. It rumbles past her again, and she practically jumps. She tries to wave it outside, but instead it kamikazes to the back of the car, navigating among her cameras. Which is worse, she thinks, waiting for the sting, or the sting itself? She opens all the windows wider.

September fog is rolling across the highway, westbound US-6. Isabelles windshield clouds. At first, she doesnt panic. Shes been driving for twenty years already. Shes a good, careful driver, and right now all this cloudiness is just an unwanted surprise. A trick of weather.

She switches on the headlights before she sees how much worse the lights make everything, how they reflect the fog. She tries the parking lights instead, which are a little better. They cut a small visual path on the road for her. Already, she feels a headache the size of a hard, shiny dime, forming behind her eyes.

Isabelle strains to see the road, checks her gas gauge, which shows half empty. She slows down. She wants to keep driving but might have to get off at an exit in Connecticut to fill up her tank.

Isabelle rubs at the window. She can still see. In the backseat, shes got money she took from the bank to help get her resettled until she can find work. All her cameras are here, and one small suitcase stuffed with clothes. Let Luke toss the rest. Let him give them to Goodwill or his new girlfriend.

Or his new baby.

She knows this is crazy, but right now shes capable of anything. She could reinvent herself. She could blot out her past.

A green sign, LEAVING CAPE COD , flashes by, and she starts to breathe. People sit in traffic for hours just to get here. They come from Boston and New York to spend two weeks in a tiny cottage and bread their bodies with beach sand and tanning lotion and absorb more sun than is healthy. Tourists collect the beach glass like it was diamonds instead of chipped pieces of soft drink bottles, and though everyone always tells her how lucky she is to live here, shes never wanted anything more than to leave. Every time a visiting friend gets ready to leave, shes had to stop herself from begging them to take her with them.

This isnt the first time shes run away, but the first time was a lifetime ago, back when she was sixteen and God knows that doesnt count. Now she has a little money, a profession, and a dirt-cheap illegal sublet in New York City thats available for as long as she wants it, courtesy of her friend Michelle. She yearns for cities where people dont make you feel there is something wrong with you because you live there year round.