Kaleidoscope

Two different worlds, one body, many personalities. Kaleidoscope is a psychological novel about the complex worlds of a woman with multiple personalities. It explores the nature of reality, the creativity and richness of her inner life, and the impact of her experience on those around her. Karen is a Protector – just one of many “alters” that share a single body – and her survival skills are called upon as never before when the elaborate system which has kept the body functioning in the outer world begins to break down. She navigates between an inner world of shifting shapes with its own peculiar set of rules, and an outer world – the “looney tunes” New York City of 1994, a city crowded with homeless families while its streets are lined with emptied buildings. As she struggles to overcome a legacy of profound abuse, Karen must cope with a bewildered husband she’s not sure she wants, a tedious job she’s not sure she can handle, and a therapist who works a kind of magic she’s not sure she’s ready for. Karen’s courage and humor carry her forward as she forges her own circuitous pathway from a fractured life built around fear and denial to a life of self-acceptance and wholeness.

Anna Willman, paperback 306 pgs