About the Book
What would you do if your best friend was also your worst enemy?
When Caroline Kraus leaves behind her sheltered, upper-middle-class home in St. Louis for San Francisco following the death of her mother, she is searching for clarity and a fresh perspective to help her escape her mother's ghost. Instead, in a dreamlike city of beatnik bookstores and coffeehouses, she meets Jane. Bewitching and free-spirited, Jane offers Caroline the warmth, intuitive understanding, and female companionship she craves, and soon the two women are inseparable. But gradually, Caroline discovers that behind the intensity that makes the friendship so intoxicating lies a dangerous, symbiotic stranglehold. As their lives and psyches become evermore intertwined, Jane begins to reveal some disturbing qualities and pulls Caroline further into her troubled depths. And as her subtle manipulations blossom into emotional blackmail, financial ruin, alarming promiscuity, and ultimately, physical aggression, Caroline must fight to regain her sense of self, and her understanding of where Jane ends and she begins.
Gripping and unforgettable, Borderlines distills the author's terrifying experience into a mesmerizing memoir that will hold you captive until the last page. At its heart lies an unflinching look at the potent, hidden dynamics beneath the surface of any intimate relationship--and the dangerous blurring of individual boundaries that can occur when these dynamics are unleashed. An extraordinary tale that illuminates the power of love, loss, loyalty, and grief, Borderlines is an unprecedented account of the dark side of friendships between women, and marks a striking literary debut.
About the Author :
36-year-old CAROLINE KRAUS graduated with a bachelor's degree from William and Mary and, shortly afterward, moved to San Francisco, where she was a bookseller and author event photographer. When she returned to the east coast, she earned a Master's in screen writing and film editing at the New School and worked as a documentary film researcher. She spent summers at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, where her first fiction and non-fiction stories were born. Most recently, she was the managing editor of a berkeley-based neuroscience publication called brainconnection.com, and the Senior Arts and Science Editor for Encyclopedia Britannica in Chicago. She lives in Evanston, IL.
Review :
Advance Praise for Borderlines "A riveting memoir that reads like a thriller--complex, wryly funny, and utterly compelling, the author's experience comes vividly to life as she weaves together narratives of past and present, of profound attachment and terrifying loss. Here is a story of a life unraveling; this could be Hitchcock, but the fact that it actually happened intensifies the horror of Kraus's story, and the relief we feel at knowing she survived. Borderlines marks a tremendous debut from a gifted writer."
--Joyce Maynard, author of At Home in the World, To Die For, and The Usual Rules
"In Borderlines, Caroline Kraus has recreated a fascinating, complicated story of desire, loyalty, and grief. It's the kind of book that captivates readers and inspires other writers. Don't waste time reading this endorsement. Open the book and get started. The writing speaks for itself."
--Hope Edelman, author of Motherless Daughters
Advance Praise for "Borderlines"
"A riveting memoir that reads like a thriller--complex, wryly funny, and utterly compelling, the author's experience comes vividly to life as she weaves together narratives of past and present, of profound attachment and terrifying loss. Here is a story of a life unraveling; this could be Hitchcock, but the fact that it actually happened intensifies the horror of Kraus's story, and the relief we feel at knowing she survived. "Borderlines" marks a tremendous debut from a gifted writer."
--Joyce Maynard, author of "At Home in the World," "To Die For," and "The Usual Rules"
"In "Borderlines," Caroline Kraus has recreated a fascinating, complicated story of desire, loyalty, and grief. It's the kind of book that captivates readers and inspires other writers. Don't waste time reading this endorsement. Open the book and get started. The writing speaks for itself."
--Hope Edelman, author of "Motherless Daughters"
Advance Praise for "Borderlines
"A riveting memoir that reads like a thriller--complex, wryly funny, and utterly compelling, the author's experience comes vividly to life as she weaves together narratives of past and present, of profound attachment and terrifying loss. Here is a story of a life unraveling; this could be Hitchcock, but the fact that it actually happened intensifies the horror of Kraus's story, and the relief we feel at knowing she survived. "Borderlines marks a tremendous debut from a gifted writer."
--Joyce Maynard, author of "At Home in the World, "To Die For, and "The Usual Rules
"In "Borderlines, Caroline Kraus has recreated a fascinating, complicated story of desire, loyalty, and grief. It's the kind of book that captivates readers and inspires other writers. Don't waste time reading this endorsement. Open the book and get started. The writing speaks for itself."
--Hope Edelman, author of "Motherless Daughters
