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Portents, Pill-Popping & Almighty Strops
Portents, Pill-popping and an Almighty Strop
London has entered the Eighties and skies are darkening everywhere as violence starts to flood into the capital.
Lisa Moran is one of the most famous actresses of her day. She longs for more money, more sex and that one great role that will put her back in the national spotlight. Instead, she meets a strange young Welsh writer, Daniel Jenkins, who is something of a freelance prophet and who opens her eyes to the reasons for the growing violence in the land.
Apart from the prophet, Lisa runs a string of famous and dysfunctional men who include Andrei Barapov, the coke-snorting Russian ballet dancer who defected from his beloved homeland to America; Charles Judd, the crooked and extremely rich property developer, who showers her with expensive gifts and takes her to the dogs. And not forgetting her former husband, the increasingly deranged playwright John Orlan who, long after their divorce, keeps phoning in the middle of the night to abuse her.
Lisa is also constantly pursued by the rampaging ghosts of her famous former roles from Regina Giddens to Hedda Gabler. They can even take control of her when she is stressed – which is most of the time.
Jenkins has a wonderfully calming effect on her ghosts but suffers from his own apocalyptic visions which he believes are messages from God – messages he would prefer not to hear but which he has found he can block out with alcohol.
Together they embark on a global love story which is both moving and funny. But as they travel to Paris, Provence, Israel and New York, malevolence and violence threatens to overtake them. Eventually they must confront the demons now surrounding them – some of which, they realise to their horror – have been of their own making.
This is an astonishing, many-layered novel with a core of moral outrage. The book will make many people angry, particularly those in the media.
London has entered the Eighties and skies are darkening everywhere as violence starts to flood into the capital.
Lisa Moran is one of the most famous actresses of her day. She longs for more money, more sex and that one great role that will put her back in the national spotlight. Instead, she meets a strange young Welsh writer, Daniel Jenkins, who is something of a freelance prophet and who opens her eyes to the reasons for the growing violence in the land.
Apart from the prophet, Lisa runs a string of famous and dysfunctional men who include Andrei Barapov, the coke-snorting Russian ballet dancer who defected from his beloved homeland to America; Charles Judd, the crooked and extremely rich property developer, who showers her with expensive gifts and takes her to the dogs. And not forgetting her former husband, the increasingly deranged playwright John Orlan who, long after their divorce, keeps phoning in the middle of the night to abuse her.
Lisa is also constantly pursued by the rampaging ghosts of her famous former roles from Regina Giddens to Hedda Gabler. They can even take control of her when she is stressed – which is most of the time.
Jenkins has a wonderfully calming effect on her ghosts but suffers from his own apocalyptic visions which he believes are messages from God – messages he would prefer not to hear but which he has found he can block out with alcohol.
Together they embark on a global love story which is both moving and funny. But as they travel to Paris, Provence, Israel and New York, malevolence and violence threatens to overtake them. Eventually they must confront the demons now surrounding them – some of which, they realise to their horror – have been of their own making.
This is an astonishing, many-layered novel with a core of moral outrage. The book will make many people angry, particularly those in the media.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 23, 2011
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