The Seven Turns of the Snail's Shell: A Novel

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

 

Copyright © 2009 Mj Roë

All rights reserved.

 

ISBN: 1-4392-2279-7

ISBN-13: 9781439222799
Kindle ISBN: 978-1-61550-133-5

LCCN: 2008911933

 

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For my husband Denny and daughter Kirsten (who reminded me in 2008 to “go confidently in the direction of my dreams” à la Thoreau).

CONTENTS

 

TITLE PAGE

 

COPYRIGHT PAGE

 

ABOUT THIS BOOK

 

PROLOGUE

 

PART ONE

 

CHAPTER 1

 

CHAPTER 2

 

CHAPTER 3

 

CHAPTER 4

 

CHAPTER 5

 

CHAPTER 6

 

CHAPTER 7

 

CHAPTER 8

 

PART TWO

 

CHAPTER 9

 

CHAPTER 10

 

CHAPTER 11

 

CHAPTER 12

 

CHAPTER 13

 

CHAPTER 14

 

CHAPTER 15

 

CHAPTER 16

 

CHAPTER 17

 

CHAPTER 18

 

CHAPTER 19

 

CHAPTER 20

 

CHAPTER 21

 

CHAPTER 22

 

CHAPTER 23

 

CHAPTER 24

 

CHAPTER 25

 

PART THREE

 

CHAPTER 26

 

CHAPTER 27

 

CHAPTER 28

 

CHAPTER 29

 

CHAPTER 30

 

CHAPTER 31

 

CHAPTER 32

 

CHAPTER 33

 

CHAPTER 34

 

CHAPTER 35

 

CHAPTER 36

 

CHAPTER 37

 

CHAPTER 38

 

CHAPTER 39

 

CHAPTER 40

 

CHAPTER 41

 

CHAPTER 42

 

CHAPTER 43

 

CHAPTER 44

 

CHAPTER 45

 

CHAPTER 46

 

CHAPTER 47

 

CHAPTER 48

 

CHAPTER 49

 

CHAPTER 50

 

PART FOUR

 

CHAPTER 51

 

CHAPTER 52

 

CHAPTER 53

 

CHAPTER 54

 

CHAPTER 55

 

CHAPTER 56

 

CHAPTER 57

 

CHAPTER 58

 

CHAPTER 59

 

CHAPTER 60

 

CHAPTER 61

 

CHAPTER 62

 

CHAPTER 63

 

CHAPTER 64

 

CHAPTER 65

 

CHAPTER 66

 

CHAPTER 67

 

CHAPTER 68

 

CHAPTER 69

 

CHAPTER 70

 

CHAPTER 71

 

CHAPTER 72

 

CHAPTER 73

 

CHAPTER 74

 

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

 

DEAD, AND YET ALIVE:

 

‘TIS A DOUBLE STORY.

 

-TEUCER

 

EURIPIDES’
HELEN

 

ABOUT THIS BOOK

 

In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was involved in a horrific car accident in Paris. In the year following the accident (the timeframe during which this story takes place), there was considerable suspicion that she was not dead, indeed had not been in the accident at all. Conspiracy theories proliferated around the world. While this is a work of fiction, my intent was never to identify what happened to Diana but to tell the story with that situation as the backdrop.

 

 

It is an old Corsican game. All that is required is a set of players and a map. The player who is “it” has three responsibilities: to decide what “prize” is to be found, put it in place, and draw a map for the others. The map, always circular in nature, must have seven turns. Players do not know what they will encounter at the seventh turn. The game has been known to turn deadly.

PROLOGUE

 

Paris, France, August 1997

 

Diana, Princess of Wales, was thirty-six years old, desperately happy, and desperately unhappy. Desperate to avoid the media, who at once admired and hounded her. Desperate to keep her life private. It was the end of August, and she could trust no one. There was only one way out. As she reached for the phone, it rang.

“What is it?” she snapped. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me at this number again?” She knew that the phone would be monitored.

There was silence on the other end.

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