I thought you
were dead!' This famous line appears in every one of the keeper
books suggested for this month's theme category. When a loved one
(or as the case may be, a not so beloved husband or wife) is
suddenly resurrected from the dead, there are plenty of ensuing
complications that arise for the abandoned lover. Many stories
feature a second marriage (with children); sometimes the "dead"
husband who returns is an imposter; sometimes he/she has amnesia;
some have been imprisoned and some carried into another time
frame–but every story features that horrible moment when the
characters are faced with the past in the present. Imagine if you
had to utter those ghastly words yourself?
When your husband or
wife is declared legally dead after disappearing for a length of a
time, you must go on with life. Facing death requires great strength
of character. Change is essential for the living. But what happens
if suddenly you discover that your husband or wife is really alive?
Imagine the knots you must untangle to restore your life and love to
normalcy...
What's The Appeal?
Death, the final goodbye, is usually
met with shock, denial and disbelief. No matter how willing you
might be to accept that a loved one is no longer alive, somewhere in
your heart you can't believe it's true. When you do finally accept
death, it takes years for the vacuum in your life to lessen. A
"Presumed Dead" romance is the ultimate fantasy, because rarely in
life do we get second chances.
Death forces change; to accept the
finality of loss, you must alter yourself to go on. No one's lover
is replaceable, but if your spouse dies, there is a finality to the
loss that you must overcome. Despite the internal emotional pain the
hero or heroine faces, he/she is still alive. In essence, they must
experience their own personal rebirth. Difficult choices are made,
new lovers and mates selected.
Resurrection is a scary concept.
People don't come back from the dead! The psychic rebirth of a
character is positive, but the physical reappearance of someone
believed dead is a nightmare! Reader fascination with this concept
is not surprising–what could be better than having a chance to
start over again? Especially when you believed that second chance
impossible.
The return of the "dead" mate is not always a happy
event, especially if the absence has been an extended one. Suddenly
you must make choices between your new and past life. Torn between
two lovers, the hero or heroine must make a bittersweet choice,
denying the romance its usual happy ending. Some of the characters
still suffer loss without rebirth, because the characters must
sometimes choose between what is "right" and what they want.
Time
plays an intimate part in the lover's relationship. When a character
who is presumed dead enters the present it alters the future.
Like spectators at a crime scene, we readers are fascinated by
this uncommon story. Whether a tragedy or not, the stories are
compelling because while you live in the characters' shoes when
reading the story, when done, you silently think: Thank goodness
that can't happen to me!
Even though, the time spent apart is
longer than the time spent together in love.
-Kate Ryan
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