Elizabeth's Story

By: Morgan Phenix

Narrated by: Morgan Phenix

"This is my story. I wrote it, instead of simply living it. And one day, I realized I needed to finish the story, write the final chapters, and re-write the earlier ones. Before it was too late. So, here it is. My story. Yes, I had help from Billy, revising and publishing and delivering a copy or two. Kathryn may have helped weave the strings and threads into a warmer and more thankful fabric. And here and there, I may have even lost track of who was telling my story. But still, it is my story. And whether fact or fiction, it is true. It is my story.” (Elizabeth)

Elizabeth was a lifelong lover of literature. Hemingway, trains, adventure, food. She traveled the globe. Then settled into a silent and empty marriage in Virginia. Elizabeth’s memoir began as a complaint, late in life. At a turning point. She wrote in secret, gathering strength to break free. Her story grows as she makes her escape. And grows as her story is told.

Elizabeth takes the train from Virginia to California to visit boarding school roommate Kathryn - their first reunion in 50 years. During the trip, she shares her writing with an overly curious seatmate; Billy delivers a copy of Elizabeth’s completed book in Pennsylvania and another in Denmark, and as he reads from her story, strangers contribute to the story’s telling. Coincidence and contradiction and question cradle each memory Elizabeth has recorded, adding to the whole. Elizabeth’s Story is about the key moments between the years.

©2017 Morgan Phenix (P)2020 Morgan Phenix

Worlds Within Worlds

Morgan Scott Phenix has mastered transporting the reader through dimensions of time, place, and people. Tales within stories within lives. A child within a woman within a man. Grief within wonder within dreams. At one point I was jarred at realizing I was three levels deep. ln the end, this reader found himself looking into the mirror of 'Elizabeth's Story' and wondering, "What kind of story do I want for myself?"