Woman Without a Past

By: Phyllis A. Whitney

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

In her 35th novel of psychological suspense, Phyllis A. Whitney spins a spellbinding tale of a young woman's quest to uncover her true identity.

Successful young mystery novelist Molly Hunt, raised by adoptive parents on Long Island, is stunned when a chance encounter leads to a startling revelation. She is apparently the daughter of the aristocratic Mountfort family of Charleston, South Carolina, kidnapped as an infant from their ancestral home - and has an identical twin sister.

Travelling to Charleston, Molly meets her delicately lovely long-lost twin; her mother's stern cousin, now the family patriarch, doubtful of Molly's identity and suspicious of her motives; and his tiny, enigmatic wife, a psychic who channels the spirit of a man who died mysteriously on the Mountfort estate a generation before.

As Molly searches for the truth of her own origins, she comes to realize that the secrets of her troubled family's past have a strange and powerful hold on the present. Her reappearance in the lives of the Mountfort clan sets in motion events that threaten the family's very existence - as well as her own.

©1992 Phyllis A. Whitney (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The beloved Whitney romance/suspense formula in its umpteenth manifestation: sensible heroine (although given to thrills of fear); a quite decent mystery; and a Michelin-style tour of the latest setting." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Whitney doesn't quite stand up over time

The plot was kind of weak, the characters kind of one-dimensional, and the narrator kind of amateurish. I remember her books as more enjoyable, perhaps because I was so young when I first read them? This was an OK accompaniment to cleaning but only because it was free.

Good book.

It was good. I really liked it. Phyllis Whitney has always been a favorite of mine.

Just OK- A disappointment, actually.

This book wasn't a riveting mystery by any stretch of the imagination, but it was somewhat intriguing in its own right, so I finished it. I wanted to give this author a chance because a lot of readers seem to like her, but I'm left wondering what all the hype is about and I probably won't be ready to jump into another one of her books anytime soon.

As for the romance part of this story, it was a little far-fetched if I'm being honest. I don't feel there was enough interaction between the two to even amount to much, so the feelings that supposedly grew weren't believable for me. In fact, in the beginning of the story, we are unsure about this guy because things just seem fishy with him from the get-go. So when it was revealed that he is the one she ended up having feelings for, I was left feeling like the author just had to think of something last minute so the book could be included in the romance genre. The way the book was going, I really started to think she was going to fall for the guy who was already spoken for, so when it ended up being someone else entirely, it just didn't flow well or make much sense to me.

The narrator wasn't my favorite, but I give her props for doing all the different voices so well. In the end, I could only give this book three stars, and I'm feeling a little disappointed because I had high hopes.

Good storyline

This novel has a good storyline but there are definitely areas that could have been better developed. Some areas such as the protagonist’s book publisher is never heard from again after the beginning. Established authors have more communication with their publishers when they turn a new book in. Authors don’t simply vanish into thin air for several weeks without communicating once they turn their creation over for review. The eventual love interest has little to no chemistry and you don’t really see much development there until the end. He is more like an afterthought.

good read

good read. always like her books. mystery and romance. looking for more authors like her.