Lady Oracle weaves a complex tale of Joan Foster, a woman caught in the intricacies of her own fabricated identities. Spanning from the 1940s to the mid-1970s, her journey unfolds across multiple continents and involves a spectrum of experiences, from a troubled childhood to a life as a gothic romance author. Joan's story begins with her attempt to escape her chaotic life by faking her own death, only to find that her past is not so easily left behind.

Joan's Illusory Escape

The narrative opens with Joan Foster meticulously planning her own demise—a ruse aimed at evading the overwhelming complexities of her life. She orchestrates her "death" with the hopes of achieving a simplicity that contrasts the chaos she has endured. Seeking refuge in Terremoto, Italy, a place associated with happier times with her husband Arthur, Joan soon regrets her decision. Her disguises fail miserably, and her writing career, under a pseudonym, falters. As nostalgia grips her, Joan realizes she has merely transported her old life to a new location, unable to sever ties with the past.

Childhood Memories and Identity Conflicts

Reflecting on her early years in Toronto, Joan revisits the pain of her childhood. Her obesity fuels her mother's disappointment and alienates her from her peers, particularly the girls in her Brownie troop. A traumatic incident—being tied up on a bridge by these same girls and rescued by a man who had earlier exposed himself to her—intensifies her feelings of identity insecurity. Her mother, instead of offering comfort, blames her for the incident, adding layers of confusion and guilt to Joan's psyche. These early experiences push Joan to experiment with different personas, in a bid to mold herself into what others expect her to be.

Reinvention and Romantic Entanglements

The third segment of the story sees Joan attempting to reinvent herself after an altercation with her mother. She adopts her aunt's name, Louisa K. Delacourt, and uses a financial inheritance to commence writing gothic novels. Joan transforms physically and feels a need to craft a new past to complement her new appearance. Her journey to London introduces her to Paul, a Polish Count, whom she mistakenly believes to be a friend, leading to her first romantic liaison. Later, she meets Arthur, and conceals her childhood struggles, her romantic past, and her career as a romance novelist from him. Her mother's untimely death brings her back to Toronto, where she confronts remnants of the past, including a puzzling photograph of her father and another man, prompting insights into her mother's life and frustrations.

Maintaining Dual Lives

Joan's marriage to Arthur carries her back to Toronto, where she continues her double life. She writes romances covertly, shielding herself from Arthur's complex nature through her fictional worlds. Juggling her identities as both Joan Foster, the dutiful wife, and Louisa K. Delacourt, the prolific author, she inadvertently stumbles into automatic writing, resulting in "Lady Oracle," a collection of mystical poems that catapults her to fame. This sudden celebrity status leads to an affair with an eccentric artist, The Royal Porcupine, and exposes her to blackmail by Fraser Buchanan, who uncovers her multiple personas. Overwhelmed by her tangled web of deceit, Joan orchestrates her own disappearance, seeking yet another fresh start abroad.

Confronting Reality

The final section loops back to Terremoto, where Joan is confronted with the repercussions of her actions. In Toronto, her friends who helped stage her fake death find themselves embroiled in a murder investigation. Feeling responsible, Joan resolves to return and aid them. In a dramatic encounter, she strikes a journalist with a bottle, rendering him unconscious. As she nurses him back to health, Joan takes a crucial step towards honesty—confessing her true story, renouncing her career in romance fiction, and preparing to finally confront Arthur with the truth about her life.