With the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall coming up on November 9th this novel could not be more topical.
Lisa Selvidge, novelist, writing teacher and Algarve resident takes us back to the Cold War years of the mid-eighties when Berliners on both sides of the Wall could look but not touch. And for her principal characters, this was not enough. Physical separation was enforced by guards in watchtowers but the heart finds a way.
This is a love story of nail-biting adventure and suspense. Buy the book and spend this Christmas in Berlin with jugglers, fire-eaters, acrobats and tightrope walkers. Take an emotional roller-coaster ride as two lovers, Natasha, the Russian aerialist, and Johnny, the modern dancer from London, both living in Berlin but divided by the Wall meet, fall in love and devise a way to be together. A hair-raising way attempted only once before.
West of the Wall, we meet beautiful Alice who lives in squalor, lies about most things, including her age, and deals drugs. She is besotted with the charismatic Johnny who, when we first meet him, has a blue Mohican, studs, rings and punk gear. But he has a mission – he wants to dance on air like Nijinsky and knows he can. Then there is Peter, the languorous American gay whose use of booze and drugs is often spectacular. But not always. Peter later becomes a key player in setting up and fine tuning the lovers’ crossing of the Wall.
A famous touring circus is performing in East Berlin and the three friends get one-day visas to see it. They meet Bodo Jongleur, fire-eater and juggler, who instantly takes a shine to Alice. He will later make it over to the West but becomes disillusioned by the life he finds there, for this is also a tale of ideologies and false expectations. Natasha and her sister are visiting Russian performers bringing love, jealousy and betrayal to the plot. Natasha and Johnny meet and know they must spend the rest of their lives together. Will they? Read this finely researched and compassionately written book to find out! The twist when they all meet up after twenty years springs several surprises and … a happy ending.
The novel is available online (₤10.95, download ₤3.50) and from some bookshops in the Algarve.
Lisa teaches workshops in the Algarve and has edited Summer Times in the Algarve, an enchanting and highly acclaimed book of short stories and memoirs.
For more information please visit www.lisaselvidge.com
