I Loved You In Another Life
By David Arnold
Evan - end of summer/beginning of senior year of high school… deals with panic attacks; the abandonment of his father; helps to care for his 7 year old brother while their mom works two jobs; his best friend is Ali but there’s no romantic feelings for her; Evan has dreams of getting into a work program in the spring, heading to Alaska
Shosh - graduated high school; attends a party where she’s definitely been drinking, drove a guys sub into the pool where she sits waiting on the police; her sister Stevie went back to college for summer classes only to be killed by a drunk driver; in her grief, Shosh walks away from all future plans and turns to alcohol to cope. She dreams of escaping to the North, where it’s cold and barren.
Paris 1832 - Etienne is an artist living in France. He’s disenchanted with the world, with people; one night he’s walking and comes across Solvi who is perched on the ledge with a bird on her outstretched hand, white-blond hair whipping in the wind, song carrying on the wind; Solvi doesn’t know much French, she’s from the North; she came to Paris bent on revenge but stayed after finding her father was dead; Etienne paints, Solvi sings and so begins a love that transcends time… when cholera spreads, the two lovers die next to each other in the hospital, Etienne then Solvi, who vows to find him.
The author has woven a tale that has grabbed me and captured my attention. Sharing from one perspective to the next, then jumping to the past starts to weave them all together in my mind. This drives the desire and need to read more, to see just where they’ll end up. Two individuals lost in their own type of grief, could the find each other again? Stir the desire towards living? Moving forward?
By David Arnold
Evan - end of summer/beginning of senior year of high school… deals with panic attacks; the abandonment of his father; helps to care for his 7 year old brother while their mom works two jobs; his best friend is Ali but there’s no romantic feelings for her; Evan has dreams of getting into a work program in the spring, heading to Alaska
Shosh - graduated high school; attends a party where she’s definitely been drinking, drove a guys sub into the pool where she sits waiting on the police; her sister Stevie went back to college for summer classes only to be killed by a drunk driver; in her grief, Shosh walks away from all future plans and turns to alcohol to cope. She dreams of escaping to the North, where it’s cold and barren.
Paris 1832 - Etienne is an artist living in France. He’s disenchanted with the world, with people; one night he’s walking and comes across Solvi who is perched on the ledge with a bird on her outstretched hand, white-blond hair whipping in the wind, song carrying on the wind; Solvi doesn’t know much French, she’s from the North; she came to Paris bent on revenge but stayed after finding her father was dead; Etienne paints, Solvi sings and so begins a love that transcends time… when cholera spreads, the two lovers die next to each other in the hospital, Etienne then Solvi, who vows to find him.
The author has woven a tale that has grabbed me and captured my attention. Sharing from one perspective to the next, then jumping to the past starts to weave them all together in my mind. This drives the desire and need to read more, to see just where they’ll end up. Two individuals lost in their own type of grief, could the find each other again? Stir the desire towards living? Moving forward?