Cleo Sherwood's Second Life

This person-centered flow follows Cleo Sherwood from barmaid to hidden survivor, revealing who the Lady in the Lake truly was.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Barroom Beauty

Barroom Beauty Cleo Sherwood works as a cashier and barmaid at the Flamingo Club, dazzling everyone with her beauty and her appetite for more. Context Cleo has two sons by two absent fathers and lives with her roommate Latetia. She is tired of shabby things and wants a man who can provide for them all. Significance The portrait of Cleo as a high-spirited, hungry young woman challenges the police narrative of a good-time girl who got herself killed.

Lover in High Places

Lover in High Places Cleo begins a serious affair with Ezekiel Taylor, a married businessman with political ambitions. His gifts of altered clothes are both romantic and alarming. Context Taylor is generous, but their relationship must remain hidden. Cleo starts believing she can become the second Mrs. Taylor, and she is not afraid to say so. Significance The affair gives Cleo a vision of a better life and a reason to threaten the status quo. It also makes her dangerous to Shell Gordon.

New Year's Escape

New Year's Escape Cleo leaves the Flamingo with a man in a turtleneck and leather jacket. She is never officially seen again. Context The date is arranged to create a cover. In truth, Cleo needs to disappear, and Thomas Ludlow helps her dress a body in her clothes to fool the authorities. Significance The escape is both desperate and carefully planned. Cleo chooses life over fame, but she will spend decades tending to the people she left behind from the shadows.

Dead in Name

Dead in Name Latetia's body is found in the fountain and becomes the famous Lady in the Lake. Cleo watches from hiding as her mother mourns and her sons grow up without her. Context The deception works because no one cares enough about either woman to look closely. Cleo moves to Philadelphia and becomes someone else. Significance The mistaken identity is the novel's central irony. The Lady in the Lake is a woman no one was looking for, and Cleo is a woman who sacrificed her name to survive.

Hospital Revelation

Hospital Revelation Disguised as a janitress, Cleo visits Maddie in Sinai Hospital and confesses that she is alive. She tells Maddie that Shell Gordon ordered Thomas Ludlow to kill her and that Latetia's body was used instead. Context Cleo is angry, not grateful. She thinks Maddie's digging forced Ludlow to confess and sent her father to prison. Significance The revelation shatters the official story. Maddie can never publish it, and the secret becomes part of her own hidden life.

Rich Life in Hiding

Rich Life in Hiding Cleo lives a full and happy life under another identity, watching her sons become educated men through secret generosity. She does not regret what she did. Context Her parents and sons never know the truth. Her father dies in prison, and her mother lives with the memory of a daughter who did not deserve to die. Significance Cleo's fate is the opposite of the Lady in the Lake: she becomes invisible by choice, and that is her victory. She leaves Maddie with the question of whether a life lived in hiding can still be true.

before December 1965

late 1965

New Year's Eve 1965-66

January-June 1966

November 1966

October 1985