I liked this one quite a lot. Although it only had a wisp of a plot and the ending was a bit abrupt and anti-climactic, the three main characters somehow "rang true". They were likable, engaging, and their dialog was well-written. I guess you'd call it a character piece.

Elspeth Eric seems to have written countless stories about child abuse, so I can only assume that it must've been something she either experienced personally or was very close to. A number of her stories, in my opinion, are very maudlin and have a self-pitying tone. [i:8026739407]Beyond Belief[/i:8026739407], however, is successful because it avoids self-pity----it's about survival, as illustrated through the past tragedies of two of our main characters. "Do you want to live, or do you want to die?" My feeling at the end is that, now that Helen has regained her memory, she'll be OK. She'll live. Maybe she'll even stay in New York with these kind people, two strangers who've been a better family to her within the space of a month or so than her own mother ever was.