A &;hauntingly original&; psychological thriller about innocence, memory, and the effect of a moment of violence (O: The Oprah Magazine). In the girls&; bathroom, Diana and her best friend, Maureen, are stealing a moment from the routine drudgery of high school when a classmate enters holding a gun. Suddenly, Diana sees her life&;past, present, and acutely imagined future&;dance before her eyes.   Through prose infused with the dramatically feminine sensuality of spring, readers will experience sixteen-year-old Diana&;s uncertain steps into womanhood&;her awkward, heated forays into sex; her fresh, fragile construction of an identity&;and, in exhilarating detail, her life-not-lived as a doting mother and wife of forty. Together with the sights and sounds of renewal are the tasks of Diana&;s adulthood: protecting her beloved daughter and holding on to her successful husband.   This &;poetic&; novel encompasses both the truth of a teenager&;s world and the transformations of midlife (Vanity Fair). Resonant and deeply stirring, The Life Before Her Eyes finds piercing beauty in the midst of a nightmare that echoes like a dirge beneath each new spring, in a story that &;takes on deep matters of life and death; conscience and consciousness; family, love and friendship&; (Los Angeles Times).   &;Evokes terror and redemption, shadows and light. Kasischke treads a delicate line with the precision and confidence of a tightrope walker. She reminds us to look hard at life, to notice its beauty and cruelty, even as it flashes before us and disappears.&; &;The New York Times   &;Mesmerizing.&; &;Chicago Tribune