Devastated by Richard's spiteful disclosure, her mind in utter turmoil, Alice flees Southport. Unable to come to terms with the man's advances, and her apparent willing reciprocation, she packs a bag and turns her back on a liberal existence with the Howells. Lost Soul follows her tortured path as the demons that have haunted her assault the disillusioned and susceptible teenager. No longer able to distinguish the difference between a desire for penance and lust, muddled by alternating wet dreams and nightmares, the innocent beauty drifts toward promiscuity. The search for her real mother leads Alice to the Hope-Ashby Preparatory College in Flint. There she is offered work and a roof over her head, but soon learns that the principal's idea of discipline is as durable as the oldest profession. Dogged by an illusory Richard, and hounded by an implacable conscience, Alice falls to the wiles of Mr Hughes, the corrupt and formidable warden of The Hope. Bludgeoned by life she yields to impropriety, to wallow in sexual and sadistic manipulation. Lost Soul is an earthy, rational and provoking excursion into the bizarre realms of basic lust. It is the third in an ongoing saga of Alice Rose Hussey, the innocent girl who brings the worst out in men.
