THE 31st JUNE

About the Book

Esther Newlyn is a middle-aged divorcée. Her future is decided when she sees Catherine Smith, a young attractive woman, commit suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming underground train. Esther tries to save her but fails and only manages to grab the girl’s Marks & Spencer carrier bag. The bag contains clues as to why Catherine felt compelled to end her life. Some keys, a photograph, £2,000 in cash, an office address and many pages printed on a computer. Esther decides she owes it to Catherine to find out why this beautiful girl committed suicide and this she does, with unexpected results, which change her own humdrum life forever. She meets Catherine’s mother, a dry empty woman unable to come to terms with this second tragedy in her life. And Maggie, Catherine’s adventurous teenage sister, ready to experiment with drugs although her brother, Freddie, had died of a heroin overdose. Esther obtains a job in Catherine’s office, her first for many years, and finds herself in a world of vicious landlords and victimised tenants. Her work on the computer leads to the discovery of Catherine’s diary, secreted in a document, dated The 31st June, through which Catherine pours out her misery, telling of her lover’s tyranny, an abortion and drug running. Other central characters are Esther’s mother, Blanche, who lives with her, a feisty, manipulative old lady; Cheryl, who worked with Catherine, an upfront working class girl, determined to make the most of herself; and her black boyfriend Lloyd, a smalltime soft drugs dealer, looking for an easy life. They are all drawn into Esther’s search for the reasons behind Catherine’s suicide and the horrible, inevitable steps that led to her degradation and death. The story is set in North London in the present day. Esther’s adventure changes her life. She finds herself in situations she never dreamed of and her success gives her a newfound confidence. She learns to understand and cope better with her mother and comes to terms with her own latent racism. Esther is drawn into crime herself in her determination to discover the truth. She and Lloyd form an unlikely alliance. Blanche is also enriched by her acquaintance with Lloyd. He cooks her delicious Caribbean food (which becomes quite a feature in the story) and brings humour and excitement into her dull existence. Only Catherine’s family are left with a sorrow which will never go away.

About the Author

Lorice Lazarus was born in London, England in 1939. She attended a Creative Writing class by chance and, once she started ten years ago, has found it difficult to stop. She has written many short stories and poetry, with some success . When a particular short story became too long, she decided to turn it into a novel and “THE 31ST JUNE” was born. Like many British people she enjoys travel and she and her husband have visited many far flung countries. The lives of women she has met, with very different backgrounds from hers, have greatly influenced her writing.