Between

Identifier

etd-0326103-135506

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

In 1929, during a hot New Orleans summer, Razi Nolan accidentally drowns a month after her college graduation, only weeks before she is to leave for medical school. Unwilling to release herself to an afterlife she doesn’t believe exists, she chooses to stay between this world and the unknown. Every memory of her life is perfectly intact, the recollection effortless. In her new form, her senses are heightened, except for the sense of touch, the one that will never return. The one she misses most. Razi quickly learns that she cannot remain among her family or Andrew, her sweetheart, because her presence causes them pain. After Andrew leaves for Yale Law School, she attempts to follow him at a distance, along a trail of newspaper clippings. More than seventy years later, she discovers she has tracked the wrong Andrew O’Connell—a man with the same name but a different history. When Andrew’s old bookcase appears at an estate sale, Razi decides to leave her hometown and end the training she has given to others like her, the ones who stayed between. She follows the bookcase’s new owners, Amy and Scott, a young couple burdened with secrets and missed opportunities of their own. Through her presence in their lives, Razi helps the couple remember what brought them together and what still binds them. In the end, Razi discovers what happened to Andrew and realizes her life was connected to more than her body alone.

Date

2003

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Secure the entire work for patent and/or proprietary purposes for a period of one year. During this period the copyright owner also agrees not to exercise her/his ownership rights, including public use in works, without prior authorization from LSU. At the end of the one year period, either we or LSU may request an automatic extension for one additional year. At the end of the one year secure period (or its extension, if such is requested), the work will be handled under option 1 above, unless we request option 2 or 4 in writing.

Committee Chair

James Wilcox

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3983

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