A Most Unfortunate Woman (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780645138009)

A tale of our world and of the afterlife, told to George by Chloe, his deceased daughter. George tells his friend Charles of a strange incident. He says his daughter comes to speak to him while he is asleep. Immediately after she stops speaking, he wakes up and rushes to his computer to type out what she has told him.

Chloe relates to George her experiences from the moment of her death, her conversation with a mysterious gatekeeper of the afterlife, and her extensive conversations with other spirits she has come into contact with. James is a Dubliner who died from alcoholism, estranged from his family; Jessie is a model who got caught up in drugs and eventually prostitution; Craig is an effervescent American real estate agent whose life revolved around making money; April married for money and found that after their baby was born and her husband was promoted at work he had no time for them; and Clarissa, who knew well in advance that she was going to die from skin cancer.

Throughout the telling of his daughter's story, George intermittently pauses and questions Charles as to his thoughts on various aspects of the story. Charles is a corporate man and the philosophical arguments and the pure unbelievable nature and emotion of the story leave him virtually speechless. At first George confides only in Charles. But when their wives become suspicious of the men's activities on the occasions he read his notes out to Charles, George has no choice but to agree to Charles telling them their secret.

George is confused as to what he should do with his notes. He finally decides to enlist Charles's help to reveal to the world the 'secret' of his daughter's story.