The Calling of Rose Ii: The Voice Returns

By Nicey Hamilton

Amber happy and smiling and in the background a shadowy figure representing the voice.
After twelve years of taking medication for depression, Amber decides that she is no longer in need of pills to manage her mental problems. At first, everything seems fine, and she is happy and functioning normally. She does not tell her husband (William), her children (Owen and Ruth), and her doctor that she has stopped taking her pills. She pretends that everything is okay. Then it returns—the voice, the entity. She does not know whether she should embrace it or fight it. Amber believes that she now understands the supernatural and the spiritual world and that she is in control. She ponders her strange abilities and wonders if she really is a witch.
Read on and see what happens to Amber in this new chapter of her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669878162

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The Calling of Rose II

The Voice Returns

Nicey Hamilton

Copyright © 2023 by Nicey Hamilton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/18/2023

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Pacific Book Review

The US Review Of Books

Prologue

Chapter 1     The Voice Returns

Chapter 2     Ida And The Supernatural

Chapter 3     A Spiritual Shopping Experience

Chapter 4     Dinnertime

Chapter 5     The Shopping Spree

Chapter 6     Getting An X-Ray

Chapter 7     Let’s Go To Church

Chapter 8     The Baby Shower

Chapter 9     The Return Home To Andros

Chapter 10   Trip To The United States

Chapter 11   A Trip To Cat Island

Chapter 12   The Body Makeover

Chapter 13   Renewing The Wedding Vows

Epilogue

PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW

Writer Nicey Hamilton creates a story of a woman’s inner torment as she battles unknown demons that seem to speak to her from within.

Amber is a schoolteacher in the Bahamas who has dutifully reported to authorities the serious problems she observes within the institution where she works. This invokes the scrutiny of government officials who, to avoid possible scandal, have her ousted from the school, inciting a loud mob shouting against her, and softer voices praising her courage. The result is a dramatic trauma that will have Amber, an intelligent mother of two children, doubting her sanity. William, the father of her children, agrees to marry her, which will make Amber feel much happier and quell some of the negative rumors about her. But the voices within will not be silenced. And she has physical challenges as well, unable to stand noises from phones and TV, and developing a menstrual type bleeding that goes on for months, causing weight loss and further fears.

Staying at home on sick leave, Amber begins to demonstrate her increasing mental anguish by burning anything in the house that bothers her, that talks to her – including a carpet and some wooden furniture. Her doctors prescribe various pills that help, but only very slowly, while the voices proclaim her to be a witch whose name is Rose and begin to convince her she is being plagued by demons of obeah, a form of spiritual ritualism of African origin that still haunts island culture. Amber’s path to recovery remains hidden for many months but will gradually be revealed.

Hamilton has constructed Amber’s agonizing portrait with vivid scenarios which include her children’s confusion about their mother’s condition and her husband’s reactions that range from support and comfort for his wife, to infidelity. The story is told entirely from Amber’s viewpoint, so the reader will hear the voices that torment her and watch her slowly deteriorating physically and psychologically, battling unseen evil spirits and apparently incurable bodily ailments. Hamilton, who has written a previous novel focused on Amber’s younger years, seems poised to expand her audience with this harrowing but ultimately triumphant tapestry of a woman’s courage in the face of seemingly insuperable challenges.

- Barbara Bamberger Scott

THE US REVIEW OF BOOKS

She heard the voice think to her ‘Rose, Rose.’ She responded in her mind, ‘My name is not Rose, my name is Amber.’

Amber Carson is shocked when she and her sister Joan are unceremoniously fired from the school they work for. The administrators didn’t care for Amber speaking out about the conditions of the school. The reaction is mixed, ranging from staunch defense from friends to unhinged anger from various parents. The backlash extends all the way to Amber and Joan’s parents. Amber and her boyfriend, William, take off to Florida with their two children to enjoy a much-needed vacation. Then, Amber begins to experience weirdness in her life. She suffers from constant bleeding with no known diagnosis. Despite this and weight loss, she carries on. However, strange voices calling out to her and mysterious visions threaten her already fragile mind and pose a threat to Amber and her loved ones.

The author’s book is a near-hallucinatory, supernatural mystery where the question of reality is put to the test in every chapter. The unsettled feeling sets in with the chaotic inception of the book and is never completely abandoned in the story of Amber’s afflictions. Amber is the forlorn protagonist fighting for her physical and mental health, even as her loved ones doubt her. The war for her mind is on. William serves as the voice of reason but often comes off as condescending in his treatment of her. The narrative would have been strengthened by a slower denouement and greater character development. Still, author Hamilton offers up a psychological mystery with plenty of drama and paranoia that will keep the reader guessing.

- Philip Zozzaro

To my two children and my sisters who continue

to inspire me and support me in my writing

PROLOGUE

Amber sat in her bed, typing on her computer. She was a library assistant turned teacher turned writer. She was now retired and indulged in writing romance novels. She was writing a novel about a couple who fell in love while vacationing on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. She thought about her own family history and her love affair with her husband William. She was the proud daughter of David and Ann Carson. David had met Ann many years ago in the quaint settlement of Blanket Sound, Andros. The two fell in love and produced ten children. Amber was the sixth child of the union. They lived in the settlement of Love Hill.

Amber met and married her high school sweetheart, William Anderson, and they lived in Love Hill for many years. William was from the fishing settlement of Lowe Sound, North Andros. They produced two lovely children, Owen and Ruth. Amber had suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stress of her job. She was currently on medication and had taken