Lullabies

by Miranda Miller

At the age of ten, Clara Newman is found in the front yard of her home, covered in blood, incoherent and non-responsive. Inside, the butchered body of her father sits slumped at the kitchen table.

Because Clara is mute a confession cannot be obtained. The murder weapon has disappeared and there are no witnesses. A search for Clara’s mother or any other relatives is unsuccessful, and she is placed in foster care. Completely illiterate, she is placed in the first grade to jump-start her education.

After six months Clara is being taken in by a foster family. And there, though remaining mute, and socially and emotionally crippled, but in a safe environment for the first time in her life, she slowly begins to thrive.

Physically gradually recovering from her trauma at the time of her discovery, and years of gruesome deprivation, Clara’s body has to adjust to things as basic as hot food and fruit juice. She has never been in a car, has never been on an escalator or in a movie theater, has never seen a giraffe or an elephant, and has never tasted ice-cream or pizza, absorbs her new world in utter amazement mixed with distrust and wonder.

As she is fighting to overcome her devastating past and struggles her way through the days and nights of her daily life, the District Attorney suddenly and unexpectedly charges her with first degree murder. Confronted by having her past not only defended but justified by the District Attorney, 12-year-old Clara crumbles under the pressure of the prospect of having her freedom taken away from her once more, and the exposure of what she feels is the overwhelming shame and guilt of the trauma inflicted upon her.

But just as the attorneys for both sides are to begin their closing arguments and place her fate in the hands of a jury, the defense presents a stunning surprise witness with a staggering, astounding story to tell. A story that will change the course of Clara’s future in a way nobody in their wildest dreams could have ever possibly imagined.

She narrates “Lullabies” as the story the way she remembers it.

Kindle Edition

First published February 24, 2015

About the author

I've lived in Italy, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Japan and now live in North London with my husband, a musician. I have a daughter, two stepchildren and four grandchildren. I teach at the Courtauld Institute, where I have a Fellowship from the Royal Literary Fund. So far I have published seven novels, a book of short stories about Saudi Arabia called A Thousand and One Coffee Mornings and a book of interviews with homeless women and politicians. At the moment I'm writing a novel set in London in 2016 about different generations of refugees. My eighth novel, Angelica Painress of Minds, about the 18th century painter Angelica Kauffman, will be published in August. I welcome feedback from readers.