This book is a Pandora’s Box of surprisingly gifts of wonder!

It took me half 2 days and 1 full night to read this magnificent Lesbian  novel!

The main story is covered between present and past by the new generation being mislead by the past generation, yet destiny has the way of love to spread truth through lies on how the past hurts the present, mothers hurt children, yet one tenant remains the main suspense and the best character whatsoever!

It is one of those books that doesn’t let you leave it from your hand. Every chapter holds a new twist, every lifestory stumbles into the other and love brings to light the worst of the past and the best of the present.

Dark clouds of the past infuriatingly attack Mrs. Hamilton, dragging her soul in turmoil,while the most beautiful ray of love stumbles into her heart  with the most beautiful woman she could see, yet could she love Clo by forgiving the past ?

The present containts characters with apparently no string to each other but passion and love, yet the past strucks back with broken family values and unfaitfull woves that will struck with thunder the present generation : Clo, Laura and Susan. The only bond is the mysterious Mrs. Hamilton that will remain a secret up until the turning point of the plot.

I won’t reveal her identity for the precious sake of the read! 

At first we met Mrs.Hamilton and Marella, strange , almost a vicious meeting. Then Clo, Laura and  Susan.

Mrs. Hamilton- seems to seduce the innocent callgirl instead of the vice-versa.

And afterwards, their families : Helen, Susan’t aunt, Amelia, Clo’s grandmother, Josh, Laura’s husband and we learn about her adoptive parents and of course, the fabulous actress, Francoise Desmarais. 

We meet Mrs. Hamilton who’s meeting Marella in search of her husband’s mistress. Yet, Marella turns things around and sets her up with her best professional escort for women : the beautiful Clo.

„Marella tried to determine Mrs Hamilton’s accent. There was a hint of European flavour beneath an English accent that tripped and drawled over the odd American phrase.

She was tall, perhaps a little overweight, with a figure that would have been athletic in her youth. Her dress was made from fine-woven, soft, cream fabric, cut elegantly and held by a narrow belt round her waist. She wore a little jewellery and makeup and her perfume smelled like a lighter Chanel No 5.

Every detail about the woman suggested sophistication, confidence and money.

Even distressed, Mrs Hamilton looked refined, covering her emotions with good breeding or training. Marella could not decide if she would describe her as beautiful. She guessed that she was in her fifties. Her hair was long and neatly tied back, streaming the streaks of iron grey from her forehead back over her head and the rest of her dark hair.

She had enviable bone structure, high cheek bones and an intelligent forehead. She had a strong jaw, but not so strong as to be masculine. From the side, no longer hidden by the glasses, Marella could see that she had long eyelashes and dark eyes – perhaps hazel, she could not quite tell. Perhaps it was just the colour of her face that detracted. Mrs Hamilton had a Mediterranean complexion, but she seemed drained somehow, sad.”

 Mrs. Hamilton cancels the meeting, but Clo doesn’t see Marella’s text sms and she meets Mrs. Hamilton. Nothing notable happens, but Clo massaging Mrs. Hamilton’s neck and stumble’s into her blossom. Clo leaves heartbroken, as for the first time in ten years she falls in love with a woman she’ll never see again. Yet, Mrs. Hamilton follows her home and is strucked by the image of her grandmother, Amelia.

„She could see one other person in the square. Opposite the hotel, a young woman stood beside a lamp post with two shopping bags from a clothes store on he ground beside her. She was staring towards the hotel doors and seemed to be waiting, checking her watch carefully. She did not seem to fit either the tourist or city mould.

She was dressed in a matching light jacket and trousers, but wore so low cut a top that it appeared she was naked beneath. It looked good on her. She was young enough to reveal as much neck and chest as she wanted. She was lightly tanned, her skin glowing against the light suit, and her hair was short, floppy and blond. She was too far away for Mrs Hamilton to see her eyes. Shadows fell across distinct cheek bones and around full lips. She was slim, but with hips and breasts large enough to curve out into a woman’s figure.”

‘Hi,’ her guest said. ‘I’m Clo and I am really sorry.’

‘Hi,’ Mrs Hamilton replied, and they stared at each other’s blurred faces in the darkness.”

„‘Would you mind staying?’ said Mrs Hamilton, still staring out of the window. ‘I would like the company’. She turned around. ‘I would like your company.’

‘I can stay until dawn,’ Clo replied, smiling. ‘Otherwise I’m here for as long as you want me, for whatever you want me for.’”

„How long had it been since anyone had touched her like that? She was aware of her whole body coming alive again with the admiring caresses. She could feel the shape of herself. Her body was no longer a cold, numb vessel that carried around her brain. She felt painfully, fluidly human again.

She coughed to clear her throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘It’s just been a long time.’ She stopped, having to quell a wave of self-pity.

Clo’s fingers gently squeezed her shoulders and then her soft lips touched the top of her back. Clo kept her mouth pressed against her skin for a few moments and the warmth and comfort spread through her.

The consoling kiss almost made Mrs Hamilton choke again. She shook her head. Clo was being paid to care, she reminded herself. She was a professional at this kind of physical reassurance.”

Afterwards, we meet Laura.

Laura is a doctor and she’s married to Josh, yet she doesn’t love him like she really should, they met in college, they are both doctors and somehow life flowed in this direction. Laura is an ex-lesbian. Laura and Clo are very good friends. Laura was adopted and she really wants to find her real parents, yet all what Josh wants is to start a family. Laura is somehow upset, she knows she wants children , yet not with Josh. Everything changes  when she meets Susan in a local bar, both of them awaiting for Clo.

Then, Susan.

Susan has lived a big part of her life in the U.S. and now returns to London to her aunt and she’s still haunted by her mother’s suicide and her father’s silence. 

„She scanned over Susan’s features, her dark eyebrows, the coppery eyelashes that flicked over green eyes, her straight nose; she checked her cheekbones and full lips. Susan lifted her hand to stroke a ribbon of hair behind her ear, and Clo felt the thrill of recognition with the action. She looked again at Susan’s features, trying to make them into someone else’s, but the memory disappeared.”

Susan and Laura fall in love unexpectedly and they are perfect to each other, but a deep hidden secret and Laura’s real parents reveal the impossibility of their love.

„She knew who she would think of. She would put a face to those breasts and the body that she usually fantasized about. She clutched down at the bath rim, her fingers hovering over her hair, paralyzed and refusing her own thoughts.”

„Laura nodded, but all she could think of were the lips that were hidden behind the photo album.”

„Laura held her tighter in response. She could hear her breathing out sharply, trying to keep her composure.

‘I’ve had too much to drink, and it’s been an upsetting day,’ she said lifting her head from Laura’s shoulder. They stood holding each other, their faces close enough to touch.

Laura could feel Susan’s warm breath on her lips. She was breathing deeply, holding her breath between long inhalations, trying to calm herself. The breaths were loud, but became quieter and shallower. As her breathing became more regular, it grew warmer, moister, on Laura’s lips. Her chest rose less violently, shallower breaths lifting her chest so that it gently touched Laura’s.

Susan’s eyes became dark and wide with shock and attraction, but she didn’t move. For a moment, they stared at each other. Laura was vividly aware of where their bodies touched. Susan’s naked arm around her bare neck, her soft breasts stroking against Laura’s as they breathed, their thighs that brushed tantalizingly close. Laura tentatively pulled Susan closer and their breasts came together. Susan tilted up her head and a quiet gasp escaped her open mouth. Laura pulled her closer so that they touched down their bellies and thighs, their bodies sealed together. They both breathed quicker, their breath mingling in their closeness.

Laura bent her head forward a fraction at a time, slowly closing the gap, until her lips delicately touched Susan’s. The feeling of Susan’s soft tender mouth on hers released all of her longing, the sensation flooding through her in an instant. Susan closed her mouth around hers and they began to kiss frantically, moist lips slipping over full, swollen, greedy lips. Susan held her face and Laura closed her eyes as Susan’s warm, succulent mouth enjoyed hers.

She could smell her. It was intoxicating – the fresh sweat and moisture from between a woman’s legs turned on by her touch. Her head buzzed, basic desire controlling her. She pushed Susan towards the bed, kissing across her cheek, and took large mouthfuls of her neck.

She tasted and smelled addictive. Laura could not take enough of her in. She lingered, kissing around Susan’s taut belly. It smelled the most pure here, where no perfume had reached. But she could not resist going further. Susan’s soft hair stroked her cheek as she moved lower. She could feel the wet and heat against her lips. The scent was overwhelming and her breath rasped with anticipation.

She could feel Susan tense and surge beneath her, trying to encourage her lower. Laura moved her hands beneath Susan’s hips, angling her up and towards her. She kissed slowly down the soft crease of her legs. She could hear Susan groaning. She was stroking her hands uncontrollably over Laura’s back and down her legs trying to pull Laura onto her face.Overwhelmed by the taste and pleasure, Laura only half registered Susan pulling her hips over towards her. She was lost in Susan, when she felt the stroke of hands over her buttocks, pulling her down onto Susan’s face. Laura cried out as Susan’s lips enveloped her clitoris. Her hot mouth sucked Laura in and ripples of pleasure coursed through her body. The pleasure spread out in waves through her skin, as far as the top of her scalp. Her skin prickled in ecstasy across her back and down her limbs.

Uncontrollable, they devoured each other, forcing each other even closer. The realization that Susan was going to come made Laura shudder with arousal and the rush in her groin was intense. She felt Susan start to curl up in tension beneath her and she sucked her quicker to take her over the edge, just as Susan did the same for her. They rocked taut together, holding each other tight to each other’s mouths as they tensed and pulsed and moaned.”

Then Clo and her family.

Clo knows she loves women, yet she has a hard time to fall in love and make it last. She is a beautiful young woman that lives with her grandmother and has an unsteady relationship with her mother. She is a professional escort for Marella, yet  her passion is bakery, she sometimes bakes in Marellas’s pastry shop.

Mrs. Hamilton remains a mystery.

 

Then we meet  Francoise Desmarais, a famous actress in her fifties that came to London to shoot her future movie. She lives across the street of Clo’s home and they meet when Clo lays rained on the house’s stairs.  Francoise invites her home and somehow they develop a strange relationship that turns to love, unclear, unsure, unfocused, yet full of passion and self discovery.

„Fran persuaded her to come indoors, slowly leading her in. ‘I’m sorry. I’m really wet. I don’t want to get your house wet,’ Clo said, her deep creamy voice slurring.

She obediently held her arms up high, while Fran peeled her T-shirt from her body. She put her hands on Fran’s shoulders to hold herself steady while Fran unhooked her bra.

Her body was like a sculpture, a perfect shape that you could not help wanting to run your fingers along, touching the smooth soft curves, letting your fingers discover the rougher clefts and grooves. Fran had not let herself but instead had wrapped Clo in a towelling dressing gown and pulled her close, trying to warm her through.

‘Thank you. That’s nice,’ Clo said. She clung to Fran, and hid in the curve of her neck.

Fran dabbed her shaven head dry and lifted up her face. She could not keep her cheeks dry, no matter how many times she pressed the soft towel to her skin. Tears would not stop flowing in the two steady streams down her face.

Clo looked at Fran, her drunken eyes slowly focussing. Her eyelashes pinched together in wet glistening points. She blinked her eyes, not understanding. ‘You look like Francoise Desmarais,’ she said, smiling a sad smile.

‘I used to be Francoise Desmarais,’ Fran said.

Clo had not understood. ‘Francoise Desmarais is the most beautiful woman in the world,’ she said, matter of fact.

Once she lay down, she only took a few seconds to fall asleep. Fran watched her for many more. In the mono-colour street light, she looked like the young woman she had first met. Only the hair length was different. She reached out tentatively to touch her head. It felt fine and soft as Fran stroked over her scalp. She knelt by the sofa and bent down to press her cheek to Clo’s head. It felt almost downy, like a baby’s head. It was so intimate that Fran blushed, embarrassed at her inappropriate gesture.

Fran wondered if Clo had any idea how grateful she was, how pathetically grateful, for how Clo had lusted over her yesterday. How refreshing it was to be so unequivocally desired. Clo really did seem to like her breasts, but Fran had known that already.”

At one point, we find out who Mrs. Hamilton is and how much she can love beyond the hurt of the past.

„Fran seemed to be at home most evenings. If she was not being fed by Clo, she would often be sitting and reading with a glass of wine. Clo could see her from her window, sitting on the sofa with her feet up, looking studious in her glasses. She liked seeing Fran in her glasses. She always wore contact lenses to work and it was a treat seeing the real Fran, out of hours, relaxed and no longer playing a character.

She reminded Clo of Mrs Hamilton. The thought surprised her. It was the perfume. They wore a very similar perfume. But also, the way she laughed. Clo felt elated when she heard Fran’s laugh, when she caught her off guard with a joke or flirtation. She loved the lack of artifice at those times.

She wondered what she was like with Daniel. Was she the same? Was she seeing the real Fran? Or did she see someone she wanted to see, superimposing another personality whenever she appeared to warm towards her.”

„Fran moved closer, unable to tell if Clo would still reject her touch. She slowly put out her hand and reached for Clo’s face to tentatively touch her cheek. The caress was thrilling, that first touch after feeling isolated; cold dejection to feeling the heat of another body, accepting now where before it was rejected. Clo held Fran’s hand to her cheek. She squeezed it and turned her face into it, kissing the palm hopefully.

Clo’s lips felt luscious against her skin. Fran’s arm tingled, coming alive at the sensation that ran through her limb and down her body. She lifted her hand to Clo’s head, stroking over her hair, pulling her closer. She kissed her head, her soft hair, her forehead, across her eyebrows, her still wet eyelids, her soft, warm, salty cheeks, moving hungrily towards the corner of her mouth.

Clo turned cautiously to meet her mouth. Fran’s lips swelled with the anticipation of her kiss. She kissed tentatively, dabbing her mouth on Clo’s. Her lips moistened as Clo’s lips moved over hers. Her soft, delicious lips slid and teased her mouth. Fran kissed her deeply, taking more of her in, unable to get enough of her taste. She ran her tongue around the inside of Clo’s lips, melting into her.”

The climax is breathtaking and we find out the past  generation’s terrible secret and the connection between the characters in such a tragic way and how wonderful and forgiving Mrs. Hamilton is.

„Clo looked at Fran, her drunken eyes slowly focusing. Her eyelashes pinched together in wet glistening points. She blinked her eyes, not understanding. ‘You look like Francoise Desmarais,’ she said, smiling a sad smile.

‘I used to be Francoise Desmarais,’ Fran said.

Clo had not understood. ‘Francoise Desmarais is the most beautiful woman in the world,’ she said, matter of fact.

Once she lay down, she only took a few seconds to fall asleep. Fran watched her for many more. In the mono-colour street light, she looked like the young woman she had first met. Only the hair length was different. She reached out tentatively to touch her head. It felt fine and soft as Fran stroked over her scalp. She knelt by the sofa and bent down to press her cheek to Clo’s head. It felt almost downy, like a baby’s head. It was so intimate that Fran blushed, embarrassed at her inappropriate gesture.

Fran wondered if Clo had any idea how grateful she was, how pathetically grateful, for how Clo had lusted over her yesterday. How refreshing it was to be so unequivocally desired. Clo really did seem to like her breasts, but Fran had known that already.”

„‘Did you follow me home?’ asked Clo at last.

‘Yes I did,’ said Fran. It was still painful remembering the shock, being overcome by seeing Amelia after all those years, and realizing who the wonderful young woman that she had fallen for must be. She was frowning, she realized. Too quiet, too abrupt an answer.”

„‘I’m in love with your daughter,’ she blurted out. And she has so utterly and wonderfully fucked me that I cannot understand a single word you are saying, she could have added. ”

An amazing read, great narrative line, breathtaking story, sexy, hot and sometimes evil characters!