Jody Oliver believed perfection was power. Her mother had possessed it, and one day, Jody would too.
But how long can control survive the truth?
In the upper-class South of the 1960s, Jody marries Robert Oliver and claims the life she was raised to want. His parents disapprove, but Jody is determined to become the kind of wife, mother, and woman society expects.
For decades, she rules her family with charm, judgment, and control. But when her son Joseph grows into a man with his own desires, choosing a blue-collar life and a woman Jody despises, the illusion begins to crack.
As love twists into obsession and pride hardens into cruelty, Jody retreats into a world where every betrayal is someone else’s fault, and perfection is the deadliest lie of all.
This is a bonus origin story from The Girl Once Known trilogy.
Genre: Mystery
But how long can control survive the truth?
In the upper-class South of the 1960s, Jody marries Robert Oliver and claims the life she was raised to want. His parents disapprove, but Jody is determined to become the kind of wife, mother, and woman society expects.
For decades, she rules her family with charm, judgment, and control. But when her son Joseph grows into a man with his own desires, choosing a blue-collar life and a woman Jody despises, the illusion begins to crack.
As love twists into obsession and pride hardens into cruelty, Jody retreats into a world where every betrayal is someone else’s fault, and perfection is the deadliest lie of all.
This is a bonus origin story from The Girl Once Known trilogy.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for R M Demeester's The Petal Once Fallen