Call Me Marlowe

Set in both Prague and Melbourne, Call Me Marlowe captures a man's search for his motherland in the hope of making sense of his life.

With a delicate touch, the novel embodies the nature of trauma - both personal and political - in people's lives. Harold Vank loves Marylou, a woman he met in South Korea, where she was working as a sex worker, but whom he has managed to bring to Melbourne. She is the one who calls Harold 'Marlowe'. Theirs is an uncommonly beautiful but tenuous intimacy.

Harold feels his mistakes are urging him to leave Melbourne. In a wild gamble to retrieve all he has lost, he disappears to Prague. What happens in 'the City of a Hundred Spires' is both remarkable and affecting. The people he meets there - Vaclav, Marie, Pete, and Petr - and the soul of the city itself provide answers and a 'world' that he desperately wants Marylou to be part of.

But is it all too late?

Praise for Saint Phalle's writing:

'Saint Phalle writes with a clear-eyed humanity and wisdom about human nature.' - Stella Prize Judges

'An engaged and engaging novelist we can't afford to ignore.' - Australian Book Review

'Novels of this quality are a rare event...The Sea & Us resembles a beautiful symphony.' - ArtsHub

'Poetic yet down-to-earth, Poum and Alexandre is a work of sustained intensity, tenderness and generosity of spirit.' - The Age

Catherine de Saint Phalle was born in London, spent her first years in Sussex, England and lived in Paris and the South of France. She moved to Melbourne in 2003 and now lives between Brunswick and a garden in Daylesford. She has had six books published in France and this is her fourth book with Transit Lounge. English was her mother tongue and when she became an Australian citizen it all came together - she found that the language of her childhood made her heart beat in Australian-English.

Set in both Prague and Melbourne, Call Me Marlowe captures a man's search for his heritage in the hope of understanding his estrangement from his mother. With a delicate touch, the novel embodies the nature of trauma -- both personal and political -- in people's lives. Harold Vanek is in love with Marylou, a woman he met in Korea, where she was working as a sex worker, but whom he has managed to bring to Melbourne. She is the one who calls Harold 'Marlowe'. Theirs is an uncommonly beautiful but tenuous intimacy. Harold believes he has betrayed Marylou and departs to Prague in a blind search of all he has lost. What happens in 'the City of Hundred Spires' is both remarkable and affecting. The people he meets there -- Vacl

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