The Keeper of Stories

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, physical abuse, death, and substance use.

Janice tells Mrs. B her story. Janice’s father, a university professor, died in Tanzania when she was 10 and her little sister, Joy, was five. Their mother moved them to be closer to her sister, Janice’s aunt. The aunt and her mother began going out drinking; her mother grew increasingly detached from the girls’ needs. Janice’s first name is Hope, but when they moved to Northampton, England, she went by her middle name, Janice.

Soon, her mother had a boyfriend, Ray. He abused her mother and watched the girls like a hawk. Ray stopped watching Janice after a while and focused only on Joy, though Janice always tried to guard her. He brought home a mean dog and coddled it; the dog loved Ray, and Joy tried to love the dog, but Ray made the dog nip and bite at her.

One day, while her mother was at work, Janice fell asleep. When she woke up, she saw that Joy had set up a tea party for her dolls in the yard, but the dog ate the chocolate placed on the plates.