Chasing Alice by Stephanie L. Fowler reports and reflects on the true story of Alice Davis, life on the Eastern Shore, and the effect of a murder. An English teacher and chairman at Parkside High School in Salisbury, Alice Davis inspired many students, as chronicled by Fowler, to excel in future careers. She was named Wicomico County Teacher of the Year in 2000. She should be remembered for her excellence as a teacher and a mentor. Not for the mysteries surrounding her disappearance and death in 2011.
Fowler fights the human impulse to uncover Alice simply in terms of the day that she died. Though Fowler meticulously researches and recounts the events leading to the discovery of Alice’s body, she also rails against the voyeuristic urge to sensationalism. She depicts Davis from her childhood, young adulthood, friendships and career. She catalogues a tribute to the very private Davis in the words of students, fellow teachers, relatives, and friends. The reader comes away with a grasp of the complexity of this admirable woman whose life was taken by her husband.
This book offers respite to those who knew Alice Davis, but it also serves as a warning to others involved with a controlling partner. Alice is all of us—trusting, a bit naïve, intelligent, and loving. We love and expect love in return. We want acceptance. We learn to forgive, even when embarrassed or humiliated. We want to see the best in loved ones. Alice paid the ultimate price for love when her husband of 26 years killed her and tried to cover up the crime. As Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote, “we wear the mask.” Both Alice Davis and her husband Jess wore the pretense of a happy marriage, but it had eroded into shame and mental abuse.
Alice was a normal person, but her world was torn to shreds because she chose to marry a man who might have been a sociopath. Fowler masterfully explains in layman’s term what a sociopath might look like and offers a laundry list of indicators. They are sobering. No one in Alice’s life was privy to the life she led at home.
One must remember that teachers are actors. We divorce ourselves from whatever life is tossing at us outside the school building and take the classroom stage from three to seven times a day depending on the schedule that year. We wear the mask of enthusiasm, poise, flexibility, and compassion. Then we go home to our problems, our joys, and our sorrows.
Stephanie L. Fowler comes into her own with Chasing Alice. Though the story is Eastern Shore in its locale and people, the theme is universal. We must be watchful. We must show compassion to the quiet ones who continue suffering in silence. Signed copies of Chasing Alice and Fowler’s Sophie Kerr Prize winning Crossroads are available at Greyhound Books of Berlin.
-Joan Cooper, Author