They are horrified when the woman predicts the child is neither male nor female, although Vera calmly states that it is fitting that a new 'freak' would join the family. Allismore, a psychic, to come and predict the baby's gender. Although she fears the woods, Audrina is willing to brave them to see Billie and Arden, and gradually Damian consents to Audrina's visits. Billie and Arden have moved into the groundkeeper's cottage in the woods where the first Audrina died. When she is seven, Audrina meets Arden Lowe and his mother Billie, a former ice skater who is now an amputee, having lost both her legs. Vera takes great pleasure in taunting Audrina, and is hell-bent on gaining Damian's affections, such as constantly breaking bones to catch attention, which bothers Audrina a great deal. Audrina, conversely, is haunted by dreams of her dead sister's rape and is terrified of sex and men. Vera, a habitual liar and borderline nymphomaniac, proves early on that she will stop at nothing to take anything that Audrina loves.

Vera claims that Audrina stole her place in Damian's affection and that the 'second and worst' Audrina will never be as special or wonderful as the first and best. Damian tells her stories about his 'first and best Audrina' and convinces the younger Audrina that, by a process of self-hypnosis (which includes going into the first Audrina's old bedroom and rocking in her rocking chair), she can gain all of her memories and become just as beloved and special as she was, which is what Audrina wants more than anything else in the world.Īudrina lives in virtual isolation, her only real contact with the outside world being her older cousin, Vera, who despises Audrina. Audrina's father, however, is convinced that Audrina 'walks in her own time space.' Nine years before Audrina was born, her elder sister-also named Audrina and also born on September the ninth-was raped and murdered in the woods on her ninth birthday. The family takes special care to keep Audrina unaware of precise dates, including that of her own birthday-although Audrina knows she was born on the ninth of September, she is frequently confused about the exact passage of time, leading Vera to mock her for being insane.

Audrina lives at Whitefern, a Victorian Era mansion, with her father Damian, mother Lucietta, her aunt Ellsbeth and her cousin Vera. Audrina Adare claims she is seven years old when the novel opens, although it is later revealed that Audrina's memory is unreliable.

My sweet audrina lifetime