検索キーワード： 著者 "Elaine Kraf" すべてのカテゴリー

Once the darling of the literary world, Marlane Frack is fading into obscurity: her once-brilliant career seems over, her creativity feels nonexistent, and her demanding husband would prefer she spend her time caring for him instead of struggling to find inspiration. But one day, an enigmatic chauffeur arrives to spirit her away to Memory House, a secluded sanctuary where formerly successful artists of all kinds—writers, painters, musicians, and more—are spending the rest of their lives. They have all decided that fame in death is preferable to decline in real life.

Our narrator’s name and origins are unknown, but she claims to be from “another star.” Though she arrived as a fully grown woman, she did not yet have the ability to speak or look after herself. She lives with Oliver, who serves as both her caregiver and her captor and keeps the two of them in isolation from the rest of the world. Though she has no freedom, she insists that he did his best to protect her, to develop her into something more than she was. Now she blends into our society, though she is still different at heart.

This fever dream of a novel features a protagonist who shares the same name as its author. Elaine first entered the house as moral support for her friend and fellow schoolteacher, Florence, but now there are no exits in sight. All the inexplicable residents of the space—Florence’s beguiling brother, her inattentive lover, distant mother, wizard father, and even her and Elaine’s school principal—are under the control of the mysterious Madelaine.

Ellen has two lives. A single artist living alone on New York’s Upper West Side in the 1970s, she periodically descends into episodes of what she calls “radiances.” While under the influence of the radiance, she becomes Princess Esmeralda, and West 72nd Street becomes the kingdom over which she rules. Life as Esmeralda is a colorful, glorious, and liberating experience for Ellen, who, despite the chaos and stigma these episodes can bring, relishes the respite from the confines of the everyday.

For Clarence’s mother, life revolves around her young son; she takes him to see specialists to find the cause of his blindness and developmental delays, protects him from the cruelty of other children, and loves him tenderly. But she has her own struggles too. Her sanity is precarious and fractured, making caregiving increasingly difficult for her.