The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

 

Lucy froze inside when she was eight.  As her mother was leaving to go out with her friends one night, Lucy stood on the front porch shouting, 'I hope I never see you again'.  When her mother is killed that night in a car accident, the young Lucy believes her wish caused her mother's death and she stops feeling anything.  She grows up with her brother, being raised by her grandmother, but feels nothing for anyone, fearing that her love is the kiss of death.  She becomes a librarian as it is a job in which she is able to remain distanced from others.  Her research specialty is death, how to do it, methods, symptoms of poisons, etc. 

Then something happens.  Lucy is struck by lightning.  When she is released from the hospital, her brother comes up from Florida to take care of her.  He convinces her that she needs to move with him to Florida and has already found her a job there and a house to rent.  Lucy doesn't really care where she is so she agrees.  While there, she agrees to be part of a study group of lightning strike survivors.  The other survivors whisper about one survivor who was clinically dead for twenty minutes but came back to life.  The man, Lazarus Jones, refuses to talk to anyone.

Lucy is intrigued and drives to his house to talk to him.  She finds that he is the opposite of her iciness; he is full of fire.  He stays remote from people because he fears harming them.  Lucy is drawn to Lazarus and soon they are involved in a torrid affair.  She can cool him down, he can burn her enough to make her feel and melt her iciness for a few moments.  Soon Lazarus is all she thinks of.  She neglects her job and the survivor group.  She hasn't seen her brother in months.  Will Lazarus be the answer she has searched for all her life?

Alice Hoffman is a prolific author with many acclaimed novels.  This novel draws the reader in and it ends quite differently than one might expect.  The author delves into the inner emotions that can help people connect or put up barriers that prevent connection.  Her understanding of human nature makes for an interesting read and the reader is attracted to Lucy and hopes for a life for her that brings her contentment.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.