Perfect for fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind and Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Eskar Wilde's memoir-styled literary fiction debut, The Memories of Eskar Wilde, is a coming-of-age tale of secrets and discovery, love and loss, and guilt and penance.
I'm no author. I don't know how to structure my "story" in a conventional way, though I am now inclined to tell it. If you possess sufficient patience and a willingness to forgive my amateurish storytelling, I'll explain to you how I came to be in a small Paris apartment on my eighteenth birthday, with only my faithful black cat and a bottle of Domaine Leroy Richeborg 2000 for company. My mother insists that I record my feelings and experiences from the past five years. I have been told that the exercise may be therapeutic.
When Eskar and his mother travel from Australia to France for his father's funeral, no one suspects that the one-week stay would turn into months, then years. Eskar is perplexed by the circumstances surrounding his father's untimely death - circumstances that fuel his suspicions that his father was a spy, or worse, an assassin. Then, there is the discovery that his father purchased a family plot at the Pere Lachaise and was to be buried there, not to mention the large gathering the funeral attracted - eighty or so mourners, most of whom Eskar does not know. Who are they? And who is the stately old Madame Marbot, who turned her chilling glare upon Eskar? Then there is Brie, the far-from ordinary kitten whom his friends believe embodies the spirit of Eskar's father. All the while, Eskar can't help but maintain an excruciating conduct in denying and suppressing his deep love for his newfound friend, Sophie.
Filled with rich descriptions of Paris and Vaucluse, the French culture, and the divine food, wine, and bistros, Eskar's account is stylistically complex and hauntingly beautiful in the way bittersweet youth memories are. Follow him as he delves into his father's past and unravels the mystery of his life and death.
Filled with unpredictable turns, witty humor, and a dash of magical realism, The Memories of Eskar Wilde is the perfect modern escape for anyone who has enjoyed the works of authors like John Irving, Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald and Gabriel Garcia-Marquez.
