An Excerpt from A HIDDEN FATE by Carol Efron, Chapter 3 Page 20:
The black-and-white cat was lounging on the front steps of Julia’s apartment building when she arrived home. It seemed to be tracking the cars whizzing by on University Parkway. Julia sat down a foot or so away and whistled softly. The cat ignored her at first, but when she rose it rubbed against her legs. Promising. The lobby of Julia’s apartment smelled pleasantly of browning onions. She checked for mail and found a phone bill, a few pieces of advertising, and a postcard with a photograph bearing the phrase “Ponies of Chincoteague.” Three ponies plunged through waves on a beach. Julia’s parents had taken her to see those ponies on the Eastern Shore when she was five. She assumed the card was from her father or Carla, but when she flipped it over, it bore an unfamiliar signature. She read:
Hi Julia,
Welcome to Baltimore. I’ve been doing genealogical research and I’ve discovered that we are related. I’d love to chat. Please call when you get the chance.
Warm wishes, Anne Compton
Below the signature was an address in Easton, Maryland, and a phone number written in narrow but neat handwriting.
Julia stared at the postcard, feeling startled. It couldn’t be true. Julia’s mother was an only child and Carla, her father’s one sibling, was childless. Anne clearly wasn’t very good at genealogical research.
In their apartment, Julia put the mail down next to a book she’d left out on the coffee table about outdoor activities in Maryland. Matt had arranged the paperback in the exact center of the table. Julia wished he didn’t have such a powerful need to order things, but he didn’t seem to be able to help certain habits. Tucking the postcard inside the book, she went to make veal marsala for supper. Cooking dinner would be her task because of Matt’s long commute to College Park, a burden he’d agreed to take on as part of persuading her to move to Baltimore. She wouldn’t have time to make fancy meals often, but the first day of grad school for them both was a special occasion.
When he arrived, they sat on the couch and shared impressions of their orientations. He was excited by the intellectual challenges his program offered and by how bright his classmates seemed, though he was taken aback by how many more physics classes they had under their belts.
“Well, we knew it would be hard for you because of you delving into physics later than most students,” she said. “But you’re super smart and hardworking.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, but guess what I learned? My department flunks out two-thirds of the class because of how hard they make the qualifier exam. I knew that test would be tough, but I had no idea the stats were so bad.”
What if the exam proved too much for him? They’d moved to Maryland for Matt’s program. Julia reached for his hand. “That’s daunting. But I know you can do it.” She sympathized with his anxiety about performing well in his classes. She didn’t know what he’d do if his plan to be a physicist didn’t work out. He’d left Juilliard, deciding against being a musician. If his second career path failed, she doubted he’d go back to music. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to stomach a blow like that. Her own academic concerns were minor in comparison. She thought her history professors at NYU had prepared her well for the hurdles she would face in grad school; her own challenges were in other domains.
“If you fail the test three times, you’re out,” he said. “Period.” He looked gloomy for a few moments. Then he shrugged and rearranged the book on the table. The result was identical.
When he asked about Julia’s day, she focused on the positives. He seemed relieved. She showed him the postcard. “I think this woman is seriously confused,” she said. “Otherwise, I’d have heard of her, or some other Compton.”
“There seems to be a lot of amateur genealogy these days. Rather a craze.”
“Yes. I’ll be polite and phone Anne when I have time—maybe in a few months.”
He laughed and picked up the adventure book. “Let’s put our energy into more important things. We should plan a white-water rafting trip around here.”
“Good idea.”
He went to the bedroom for a nap. Julia tidied the kitchen, then put the travel book on his desk, to remind him to look at it soon. Above the desk hung a striking photo he’d taken during their rafting trip through the Grand Canyon on their honeymoon six weeks ago (black-and-white, since he had red-green color blindness). He’d longed to show her his favorite place in the world: the depths of the canyon and the Colorado River. She’d exalted in sun pouring down and glinting on massive cliffs, the rush of water, the frigid splash of it on their hot bodies, and scenery that changed around most every bend in the river. She loved seeing Matt entranced with the overwhelmingly beautiful and ancient site teeming with wildlife: bighorn sheep, bald eagles, soaring condors, even one mountain lion. Rafting in Maryland would be less spectacular, but it might refresh the memories of their honeymoon and evoke positive feelings about the place.
Baltimore hadn’t spooked her too badly so far, she thought, feeling pleased with herself. Maybe she could handle going back to her childhood home. She’d wanted to show Matt the house for a while. She hoped to say goodbye to the place as an adult, not as a child being ripped away from so much that she treasured. Maybe, with Matt with her, she could put some of her disturbing memories in a secure mental lockbox where they wouldn’t be so troublesome.
Excerpted from A HIDDEN FATE by Carol Efron. Copyright © 2026 by Carol Efron.
A poignant novel of love under fire about a woman who must find the courage to face an uncertain future—and an impossible choice.
Baltimore, 1986. Julia and Matt are newlyweds, in love and eager to begin graduate school. Julia longs to leave behind haunting memories of her mother’s devastating decline in Maryland, but she unexpectedly learns the truth her father has hidden: Her mother died of a fatal genetic illness. Julia now faces a 50 percent chance of inheriting the same fate, and every child she longs to have will carry the same risk.
When an unplanned pregnancy rocks their careful plans, Julia and Matt face agonizing uncertainty and impossible choices. Desires and convictions pull them toward starkly different paths, each possibly leading to misery.
As the couple struggles to protect the fragile, fierce love that first bound them together, they face the cost of secrets and the ache of betrayal—but they also discover the hope of forgiveness.
Women's Fiction Family Life [ She Writes Press, On Sale: October 27, 2026, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9798896361909 / eISBN: 9798896361916 ]
Carol Efron is a writer and a physician. Her novel, A Hidden Fate, will be published in October 2026 by She Writes Press.
Efron was the clinical director of the Huntington’s clinic at Johns Hopkins when genetic testing for this fatal genetic disease was first offered in the United States. Not everybody at risk for incurable illnesses wants to know their fate.
Efron’s novel stems from her experiences at Hopkins in the late 1980’s, and from decades of practicing psychiatry in the SFO Bay Area. Carol enjoys hiking, cloud watching, and gardening. She and her husband live in Silicon Valley with their feral cat, near their two grown children and three young granddaughters.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026