When No One's Looking: Review

Review

"When No One's Looking makes me homesick for the simple, hardscrabble, poetic life that unfolds daily in the Ortiz Mountains of New Mexico -- and for the raw, fearless emotions and journeys of its people, as brought to life in Sarah Leamy's protagonist Joey. It's a story about the outer and inner landscapes that lead to love, to hate, and ultimately to wisdom."

Carol Carpenter, playwright,

Passionate, funny, bittersweet, and most definitely obsessive, When No One’s Looking is a story of love and hate in equal measure, a messy and secret affair that spans six countries and five decades.

Joey is dying, but no one else knows. Joey reluctantly tells Paula, who’s been a close friend since the sixties. They spend snowy days sitting on a cabin deck in Northern New Mexico, teasing and laughing together. The two start planning a Thanksgiving gathering in their small local town of Madrid, New Mexico, to celebrate Joey’s life.

But Joey has two women worth mentioning. Paula is Joey’s dear friend who’s always there, while the other woman is Kat, the on-again/off-again lover for the last fifty years.

A random encounter at a tavern in New Mexico changed Joey’s life drastically, as from that first night with Kat, both were addicted. They share an incredibly erotic, yet jealous relationship, full of passion and then betrayal. Even though they fight constantly, they always end up back together every few years.

They first came together in 1967 in Santa Fe, then again during the Civil war in Guatemala, the start of Glasnost in Russia, the eighties in Spain, and in Britain during the late nineties. Theirs is a love that almost kills.

cover art

Review