“A voice that was strong and cruel came from somewhere deep within me. When the voice split away and talked to me all by itself I started calling her Lo…She’d watched me at my lowest points and saved up a thousand slights a million minor offenses. She forgave nothing and now she wanted revenge.” Leah is an alcoholic. She’s antisocial self-destructive and deeply damaged. She’s also battling a voice in her head she calls Lo who wants to take over her body. Lo is everything Leah isn’t—beautiful charming confident and ruthless in her desires. She commandeers Leah’s will whenever Leah gets too drunk and acts as her escort through the rainy Seattle underworld. As a misfit bibliophile Leah’s conception of reality has never been rock solid but as she spirals deeper into addiction the “real world” of bars bikers dealers and addicts slowly dissolves into Lo’s dark vision. As Lo steadily tightens her hold Leah prepares to make one last bid for survival knowing her only chance is to transcend Lo’s terrifying drive toward death. An addiction memoir from Lauren Sapala Between the Shadow and Lo is a new addition to the gritty and hilarious transgressive fiction tradition of Chuck Palahniuk Charles Bukowski and Joshua Mohr.
