Tuesday Teaser: The Lady's Slipper, by Deborah Swift

For this week's Tuesday teaser I've decided to feature The Lady's Slipper, by Deborah Swift. Deborah is the mum of one of my oldest and closest friends, but it's not just because of this that I think this book is fantastic: you can see why I think it is in this section below.

"'Thought to get away with it, did you?' A sharp pain in her ribs. 'Who put you up to this?' His face was close to hers, his eyes wild and his breath thick with wine, foul-smelling and rancid.  Another sharp pain in her sde. Everything seemed to be happening very slowly. The world exploded round her, the pain exquisite, unbearable. Almost immediately everything shimmered into a new light - as if washed our, colours drained of their hues. At first she struggled to get loose and run away, but something in her had already given up. Her cracked fingernails ceased to scrape at the buttons of his waistcoat, and now it was she who was leaning on him, her legs buckling, and he was backing off, trying to get away from her. The tables had turned in an instant. He pushed at her with blooded hands, but she let her weight fall towards him, her body heavy, warm.
         'You can't get away from me,' she said, 'you'll never get away from me - I will never let you go. You will see me in every old woman you meet.' The words seemed to spill out of her mouth without her bidding, as if her mouth and mind were already disconnected."

As you can see, Deborah (or Dee, as I know her) is a fantastic writer. You can see her blog here, buy the book here, and visit my best friend India's blog (her daughter) here.