Acts of Contrition

Gloria Warren's tidy life as a sassy, cynical Administrative Assistant to a US Senate Subcommittee is thrown off-kilter when she spots one of her fifth-grade classmates in a DC art gallery. Something horrible happened to Thelma back then and though Gloria has repressed all this for fifteen years, she is forced to remember that she was partially responsible for the tragedy. The guilt that she was unwilling or unable to deal with as a child consumes her. When she finally finds the...
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Gloria Warren's tidy life as a sassy, cynical Administrative Assistant to a US Senate Subcommittee is thrown off-kilter when she spots one of her fifth-grade classmates in a DC art gallery. Something horrible happened to Thelma back then and though Gloria has repressed all this for fifteen years, she is forced to remember that she was partially responsible for the tragedy. The guilt that she was unwilling or unable to deal with as a child consumes her. When she finally finds the courage to return to the gallery for a mea culpa moment, Thelma has gone. Everything indicates that she has simply left: she sent a resignation note and bought a plane ticket. But Gloria's need for absolution blinds her to rational thought and she concludes that something sinister has gone down. Her friends and even the police dismiss her concerns with either amused condescension or scorn. Believing she has no other options, she embarks on a screwball investigation that is both hilarious and menacing. She breaks laws, abuses power, stalks influential people and consults with a psychic, all the while putting her job, her sanity and even her life at risk.