NEMESIS
A TRAGI-COMEDY
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I had every right to be exhausted I comforted myself as I dropped into an armchair with Jumbo soon purring in ecstasy on my lap. And suddenly as though egged on by an invisible force, I began to laugh. And laugh and laugh until Jumbo jumped off my lap in dismay with a yelp, as I felt tears streaming down my face. Still I could not stop, my body shaking in wild frenzy to the hysterical shrieks of laughter. I had managed to control myself at the Police Station but now I was free to give vent to this inner explosion. If only I could shout it out from the rooftops. Instead it will have to remain my secret, mine and Inspector Jim O'Brien's. Unusually I had turned on neither TV nor radio. I called to Jumbo, reaching for the glass of wine I had poured earlier and left untouched on the coffee table. What I wanted was to hear Phil's key in the door; to know that everything was back to normal and now our lives could recommence - with no more crazy scheming , let alone detours. I needed only to feel Phil's arms about me, to touch him - to tell him what? I would decide on the spur of the moment as I had done most of my life. He would understand. He always understood. It was over. We would celebrate together. I was finally free. I must have dozed off. When I awoke Jumbo had usurped Phil's chair and was fast asleep. I shivered and realized surprised that it must be late. The phone rang. Maybe it had rung before. It must be Phil. I looked at Phil's prized old grandmother clock opposite. One forty-five. I should have turned the heating higher. It had grown cold. As though struck with sudden lameness I found it hard to move. I could not remember where I had left the cordless phone so I would have to drag myself into the hall. The phone patiently went on ringing until I finally reached it. It dawned on me that I had not prepared myself for Phil's return. What would I tell him and what would I leave out? "Phil darling " I called into the receiver. "Is this " the male voice was not Phil's. "Who is this?" I cried angrily.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Annie Ehrlich, a woman of a certain age, born in Munich is the only Holocaust survivor of her family. She is living contentedly with her husband and writes for various journals. Through her work she has contact with the publisher of Jacob Jabot, revisionist historian and fervent holocaust denier. A chance meeting with this vile man convinces her that the world must be rid of him and that she must be the one to do it. At the Munich Opera House, during the performance of Gotterdammerung, Jabot falls into her honey trap and invites her home. A dense phantasmagoria of sexual power play and revenge follows, during which the reader is taken on a journey through the darkest hours of European history as seen through the eyes of one of its hapless victims, through the post war years of rebuilding and rebirth and back into a present that flickers between the real and the imaginary, the desired and the feared. Nemesis is at turns literary autobiography, wish fulfilment and poignant commentary on the basest human emotions by an author who herself lived through the madness of Nazi Germany.
About the Author
Melanie Lowy was born in Munich and came to England as a small child on the last Kindertransport in December 1938. She is the daughter of the celebrated Yiddish poet, Josef Hillel Levi. She has ghosted several novels for a well-known writer, has had poems and articles published and has written three more novels. She has taught English literature, German and French and was a photographic model in her youth. At sixteen she was offered a partial scholarship to RADA but her parents lacked sufficient funds and she began teaching and practised her love of acting at London’s famous Gateway theatre. Over the past few years Melanie has been fighting a losing battle with macular degeneration, the eye disease for which no cure has as yet been found. So, the novels she had planned to write are awaiting another day as it is impossible for her to cope with modern appliances like computers. Melanie is the author of Martha’s Book of Song and A Childhood Memoir, both published by Authorhouse.