Galatea's Chains

By: R.M. Burgess

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Roxy Reid begins life as the abused child of a drug-addict mother. She grows up in an environment of poverty and viciousness, groomed by a rising gang leader. She witnesses the murder of her own child’s father, a married man more than twice her age. Heavily pregnant, she escapes to New York to give her unborn child a fresh start. She re-invents herself as a successful professional, a dedicated mother.
Years pass. She’s built a safe, sheltered arbor of respectability for her daughter Taylor and herself in the rarified world of Wall Street banking. She’s content with her life of frenetic work combined with the trials of single parenting a precocious adolescent. But then a chance meeting sets in motion a series of events that bring her face to face with her former life. Driven by her inner demons, she cannot resist responding using the vicious life skills of her youth. She finds herself chained to the past she has tried so hard to escape.
As Roxy is sucked into an escalating vortex of violence, she tries desperately to protect her daughter, whom she cherishes above all else. She’s even willing to cut all ties with Taylor if only she can keep her cloistered in the world of respectability.

Fast moving story with an incredibly intense plot

I enjoyed the prequel to this book, Escaping Pygmalion, so much that I was eager to find out what happens in the next chapter of Roxy’s life. I listened to the audiobook for Galatea’s Chains and thoroughly enjoyed both the contents and the computer generated narration which was expressive and authentic sounding.

In this book R.M. Burgess elevates Roxy’s saga to gripping new heights. The plot is incredibly intense and the interactions between the characters are very powerful. It is a fast-moving story with its characters deeply involved in drugs, crime, and Wall Street finance. The way R.M. Burgess merges these different worlds speaks volumes about the author’s creative imagination. The author also skillfully weaves the mother-daughter relationship into the plot line. Even the simplest detail is often quite moving. An example is when Taylor is shown two photos of her mother when she was a little girl. This is a deeply touching scene and one really feels for what that 12-year-old girl must have gone through.

Galatea's Chains is an excellent book and keeps the listener engaged at every step. It is hard to pause the audiobook and take a break. I highly recommend it and I am hoping that there is another book in the Roxy series.