Portrait of a Forgotten Woman

Abstract

When Joseph, distracted on his way to work by the news that his girlfriend Carma is pregnant, nearly hits a homeless woman, he brings her back to stay at the apartment he and Carma share. This single act changes their lives irrevocably. Sara Engel is an awkward, introverted art student. Her only family is her down-to- earth, big-hearted father, who raised her as a single parent after her mother’s suicide. At eighteen, she meets Daniel Watters. She is swept away by his looks, charm and intelligence, and also by his family, who welcome her into their lavish, unpredictable lives. Sara’s infatuation with Daniel is inevitable, but soon after marriage she begins to suspect she has made a grave mistake. Daniel has a dark side. As the years pass, she sees the man she loved disappear. Sara eventually seeks the help of Daniel’s sister, a divorce attorney. Manipulated into granting custody of their three children to Daniel, she is forced to begin creating a new life for herself. But when her father dies and her daughter commits suicide within months of each other, her greatest fear, that her mother’s mental illness may lie dormant in her, comes to fruition. Sara suffers a mental breakdown. Ten years later, when Sara meets Joseph, who looks eerily like her son, the memories come flooding back. Together, Joseph, Carma, and Sara will uncover the secrets that unite them. In an unexpected twist, the truth, that Carma is Sara’s daughter, is revealed. Sara is forced to confront her past--a past where she left her three children in the hands of an egomaniacal, anger-consumed, perfectionist father, whom, despite everything, she still loves. When she last saw Carma, she was only a baby, and due to her neurological symptoms, Sara has completely forgotten the existence of both of her daughters. But as she comes to terms with her broken past, she can also begin to look forward to the future and work out what it would mean for her to live a new life. When her estranged son is not ready to offer forgiveness, Joseph steps in as a surrogate son. And Sara finds a friendship and bond with the daughter she never knew, that will bring purpose and beauty to both of their fractured lives.