Stranger with My Face (1981)

Stranger with My Face is a young adult horror novel by Lois Duncan, first published in 1981. The novel is about the Native American Laurie Stratton, who is seen by others in places which she knows she could not be. She discovers that she has an identical twin sister named Lia who has been visiting her town using astral projection, which involves sending her soul outside her body. Laurie learns astral projection and uses it to look for her sister. During this time, Lia's spirit takes control of Laurie's body. The story describes Laurie's struggle to take back control of her body. The novel explores themes of appearance versus true self and the idea of a double, someone similar but not quite the same as someone else. Duncan got the idea for the book after hearing about the concept of astral projection, which she thought would make a great plot for a novel. In 2011, the novel was updated with text to modernize the content.

Stranger with My Face received several awards and honours, being named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults in 1981. It was adapted into the television film of the same name starring Alexz Johnson, Catherine Hicks, Andrew Francis, and Emily Hirst. The film aired in 2009 on the Lifetime Movie Network. The Stranger with My Face International Film Festival in Hobart, Australia, is named after the novel.

Plot

Seventeen-year-old Laurie Stratton, a Native American adopted by the Strattons when she was very young, is seen by friends and family members in places where she knows she was not. After her adoptive sister Megan sees a spirit who looks like Laurie, Megan calls the spirit Laurie's "ghosty". The spirit contacts Laurie and identifies herself as Lia, her twin sister. Helen Tuttle, Laurie's friend, suggests that Lia was using astral projection, which involves sending the soul outside the body to travel elsewhere in the universe. Helen, however, has suspicions that Lia is not benevolent, and while returning home one day is seriously injured while chasing Lia's spirit. Helen's father brings Laurie a Christmas present that Helen had prepared before the injury: a necklace with a lavender eagle hanging off of it that is said to protect the wearer from evil spirits.

On Christmas Eve, Laurie's friend Jeff Rankin plans to bring over books regarding astral projection that Helen had bought for her. On the rocks in front of Laurie's house, Jeff sees someone who looks like Laurie waving him towards her. As he approaches her, Jeff falls into a cavern below, breaking his leg. Laurie notices the books on the rocks the next day and also falls into the cavern while searching for Jeff. Having practiced projecting but not accomplishing it, Laurie successfully uses astral projection to lift her spirit up to the rocks in front of her house. Neal, Laurie's adoptive brother, sees her spirit disappear while on top of the rocks. Assuming that Laurie fell, he notifies their father, who finds Laurie and Jeff in the cavern. During Jeff's hospital stay afterwards, the necklace was found caught in the zipper of his parka. Jeff sees that the clasp of the necklace is broken, and decides to fix the clasp before giving it back to Laurie.

Laurie becomes more skillful with projecting, and decides to search out her sister. She projects herself to Lia's location, where she finds Lia's sleeping body. Looking around, she finds herself in a mental hospital and hears nurses talking about unusual circumstances involving Lia and her previous adoptive family. Somehow, without ever touching her, Lia had forced her adoptive sister Katherine Abbott off a cliff while they were riding horses, which caused Katherine to fall to her death. Disheartened at this revelation, Laurie's spirit returns to her house, but is unable to re-enter her body. While trying to push back into it, her body's eyes open, and she learns that Lia, who she thought was sleeping, has taken control of her body. While everyone else seems to be fooled by Lia, Megan becomes suspicious that Laurie is not in control of her body after she displays uncharacteristic behaviors such as eating white meat, making rude comments about others, and ignoring her old friends Jeff and Helen for new ones. Laurie can only watch helplessly as Lia does all of this.

Lia taunts Laurie, saying she can feel her there and that she can feel Laurie's body pulling Laurie's spirit back in. She then tells her that their biological mother was an adept astral projector, but one day projected herself outward and never came back. Lia and Laurie were taken and separated. While Laurie stayed with one family, the Strattons, Lia was shuffled from family to family due to strange occurrences with the families and their biological children. For instance, she had killed Katherine Abbott to take her place in their will so that Lia would be their only heir.

Megan tells Jeff about her suspicions that Laurie is not in control of her body. When Megan and Jeff meet with Lia, Jeff quickly determines that someone else is in control of Laurie's body, so he tries to give Lia the necklace he fixed because he heard it protects against evil spirits. Lia forces the necklace out of his hand, but Megan retrieves the necklace and throws it at Laurie's body, catching her across the throat. Lia's spirit is ejected from Laurie's body, putting Laurie back in control. With Lia's spirit having been gone for so long from her body at the hospital, she was declared dead and cremated. To prevent Lia from regaining control, Laurie never projects herself again, as she still feels Lia's presence.