Midlife and obsession, anorexia, and the teenage girl who played with fire—perhaps without knowing it. Perhaps. Lines get blurred, but will they be crossed?
Marcel, a jaded academic with philandering and divorce in his past, frets at the thought of parenthood as Erika, his high-strung, anorexic lover is worried about her ticking biological clock. Then 14-year old Lea arrives to stay with the couple while her mother is in rehab and Marcel finds himself playing missing father, psychoanalyst and shoulder to cry on. As Lea clings to him, Marcel struggles to stay on the honourable side of dividing lines that get increasingly blurred.
The title Club is an e-mail group of girls, whose password Lea divulges to Marcel in return for a secret of his own. In the parallel story that unfolds there, the frivolous mingles with the tragic in the saga of two girls—a sick one full of life and a healthy one obsessed with death.
With moral baggage in his past, Marcel can only hope to be judged by his actions, not for his feelings and thoughts.
Complete at 72.000 words.
Chapter 15 is a synopsis.