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1. Describe Joan Foster's state of mind in Chapter 1.

Joan Foster is alone in Terremoto, where she goes after faking her death. She feels sad about leaving behind her husband Arthur. She wishes he would come rescue her. She is crying over what she has lost, but becomes afraid when she realizes it was a bad idea to come to this town because people might remember her.

2. Why does Joan bury her clothes?

Joan buries her clothes because they are the clothes she was wearing when she faked her death by drowning, so they are still wet. She feels she needs to get rid of them so there is no evidence left behind.

3. Why does Joan want to start a new life?

Joan wants to start a new life because it was too complicated to live a double life as Arthur's wife and her secret identity as the romance novelist, Louise Delacourt. Joan cannot share her other life with Arthur, nor has she told him the truth about her past, including her unhappy childhood and weight trouble. When a reporter unearths her true identity, it is too much for Joan and she escapes.

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