Craig Michael Smith

The Visits Craig Michael Smith

If you had a deep dark secret that would shatter your life if it became known, who would you tell and when? Meet Brenda Leamington, an ailing elderly woman who decides to reveal the elements of her life to a hospice volunteer who visits her on Thursday afternoons, along with his dog and his own burden of emotional pain. From her childhood in London and a series of violent deaths that haunt her throughout her life, to her efforts in preventing the collapse of a revolutionary aeronautics program and her short-lived first marriage in Canada, the series of visits unwinds the tortuous tale of her life. From their first meeting, Brenda begins to divulge her spirit of resilience, hard-fought independence and as their relationship deepens, her darkest secret. At times told through the eyes of Colin, the emotionally damaged hospice volunteer, events conspire to devastate Brenda's family after a shocking series of revelations erupt from the well guarded past of her second husband's early years in the Netherlands. Brenda is left to disclose her sins and self-doubts to this grief-numbed stranger in the pitiless confessional of her death bed. This is a story of a woman determined to celebrate her own singular path to a life of joy and ultimately, a passing blessed with redemption.