Almost a Life

"I just finished paying for my afterlife care. I will be cremated and my ashes stored in an urn in the mausoleum in town. I've enclosed the information so you can come here and liberate me." Two wounded women find purpose and strength together. Lydia was dragged into the hell of forced prostitution in Prohibition-era Chicago; Ada lives in the air-conditioned hell of a California suburb. Lydia has clawed her way out; Ada doesn't have a clue how to escape and become herself. Ada has a lot to learn. Lydia was born to be a teacher. Almost a Life extends over half a century: from a girl watching iceboats skittering across a frozen lake to a woman drifting off to sleep, wrapped in a warm evening's memories after a glass of wine and a bit of yardwork done in secret. What happens in between is an astonishing story of survival, growth, and power lost and regained.