"WOW! Your book is a tour de force. The research that you must have done to cover such a huge amount of years is amazing - I loved this book; the author is a natural born storyteller!" Erin Pizzey Author and Founder of the first Women's Refuge in UK London, 1979. Behind every painted smile lies a four-hundred-year-old secret. For Joan, the world has gone silent. Waking in a hospital bed with no voice and no memory of the trauma that put her there, she finds herself utterly alone. Her husband has vanished, her son is missing, and her only possessions are a troupe of weathered puppets and a few crumpled bank notes left with a devastating, one-word letter: Sorry. Forced to seek sanctuary in a London church—a place she has feared for centuries—Joan begins a harrowing journey to reclaim her life. Guided by a compassionate stranger and the pioneering spirit of the city's first women's refuge, Joan undergoes hypnotherapy to break her catatonic chains. But as the past life regressions unfold, the truth is more staggering than she ever imagined. Joan isn't just a victim of a broken marriage; she is the guardian of a legendary legacy. From the rowdy stages of the Commedia dell'arte to the secret alchemical laboratories of the 17th century, Joan's memories reveal the truth of her immortality—and the "healing elixir" that became her family's beautiful, terrifying curse. As the shadow of "Mr. Punch" looms over her present-day reality, Joan must find her voice before the secrets of the Flamel bloodline destroy the only future she has left. In these 193 pages you can discover the "secret irony" of a woman sustained by a miracle she believes is an abomination. Perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Time Traveler's Wife, and meticulously researched historical drama.