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From the author:
Looking for Home began many years ago with a fascination for the disturbing paintings of Balthus. This in turn led to my reading letters written by the poet Rilke to Balthus’ mother, Merline, the last and perhaps greatest of his loves. Most thrilling of all, I discovered by a fluke of chance a long out of print volume of Merline’s fascinating and revealing replies to Rilke. Not wanting to write a biopic, I came up with the idea of two parallel narratives, that would interweave and at the same time critique and dialogue with one another. The two heroines, separated by half a century, struggle with similar issues during times that are almost equally turbulent so that, though they never meet, a strange kind of friendship grows between them.
Book blurb:
1990. Eli, a young art journalist with an interest in the painter Balthus, flies to Berlin to find out more about the mysterious artist whose refusal to divulge any biographical details sparks her interest. The Wall has fallen, but the city is uneasy. She falls in love.
1906. Merline, a gifted Jewish artist, trapped in a loveless marriage and shortly to be exiled from her beloved Paris, finds companionship in the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. War is looming on the horizon, and as life in Germany grows harsher, Merline’s health deteriorates as she pines for the man whose words are all of human feeling, but whose heart remains locked away in his castle of solitude.
Eli discovers a series of letters between Merline and René, as she researches deeper into the life of Balthus, Merline’s precocious and gifted son. Eli finds herself drawn deeper into the letters and the world they hint at tantalisingly, as they begin to take on significant parallels in her own life.
Read an excerpt here.
Reviews for Looking for Home
“Merline, the real woman behind the portrait, is at the heart of this sensuous, intensely romantic novel. She was the mother of Balthus the painter, the lover of Rilke the poet, and she poured her own creative energy into the lost art of being a muse. I was captivated by her – she springs off the pages, passionate and unconventional, determined to live her entire life as a work of art. Glorious.” Kate Saunders
“Utterly absorbing and intriguing, I couldn’t put it down. A deeply moving, evocative and passionate story beautifully told.” MaryAnn Ephgrave
“It really is a novel of substance… muscular style, great theme appropriately respected. Proper novel writing.” Barry Devlin
“You bring what you’ve learned in many professional (let alone aesthetic) contexts to the whole theme, and it works beautifully. Not just as fiction, but as a statement about art touching life, and at real historical moments. I shall have to read Rilke properly, for a start. And try to find the paintings. For now I just want to say how much I admire both the complexity of the fiction and the (apparent) simplicity of expression. Thank you for letting me see you at work like this: it’s a serious achievement and I hope it wins you plenty of notice.” Jean Gooder, Emeritus Professor of English, Newnham College, Cambridge.