Gail Levy - Author
Gail Levy was born and grew up in London. She went to London University and read philosophy at Bedford College in Regent’s Park, then did a M.Phil at UC. and taught Philosophy for the Extra-Mural Department of London University and then at Greenwich University for 10 years. When her baby was born she moved out of London and began writing fiction full-time. Strange Embrace is her second novel.
A dark, gripping and disturbing love story that, through different characters, times and places never lets you settle into thinking you know what will happen next.Angel Merlowe, a naive 18 yr old orphan who lives with her uncle's family, falls quickly and desperately in love with the enigmatic and much older Alexander Sorel. But after a happy start shadows from Alex’s past life and the discovery of a diary, full of dangerous secrets, really does bring to mind the old adage marry in haste, repent at leisure.An absorbing read - highly recommended. A 'Piece of Passion' from the author... Why did I write my book? Why should anyone read it?'When I read Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea I was blown away. I’d read Jane Eyre, of course, so I knew all about Mrs Rochester, the mad first wife – or so I thought. But it had never occurred to me to wonder why Rochester had married her in the first place, or what she was like when she was young, or how she’d ended up, mad and hateful, in that attic. Jean Rhys made me think quite differently about someone I’d always taken completely for granted – not about Jane but Rochester’s first wife. I was fascinated by the idea that there are two stories - the story one reads and the ‘other story’, the version of events no one hears; the one that lies behind the characters one meets in a book, and this was what I wanted to explore in Strange Embrace. Except rather than just telling the story behind the story I thought I’d combine the two and tell both tales at once. Strange Embrace is about two very different women who have nothing in common except a man and how this links them, tying them irrevocably together, even through murder.' - Gail Levy
A dark, gripping and disturbing love story that, through different characters, times and places never lets you settle into thinking you know what will happen next.Angel Merlowe, a naive 18 yr old orphan who lives with her uncle's family, falls quickly and desperately in love with the enigmatic and much older Alexander Sorel. But after a happy start shadows from Alex’s past life and the discovery of a diary, full of dangerous secrets, really does bring to mind the old adage marry in haste, repent at leisure.An absorbing read - highly recommended. A 'Piece of Passion' from the author... Why did I write my book? Why should anyone read it?'When I read Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea I was blown away. I’d read Jane Eyre, of course, so I knew all about Mrs Rochester, the mad first wife – or so I thought. But it had never occurred to me to wonder why Rochester had married her in the first place, or what she was like when she was young, or how she’d ended up, mad and hateful, in that attic. Jean Rhys made me think quite differently about someone I’d always taken completely for granted – not about Jane but Rochester’s first wife. I was fascinated by the idea that there are two stories - the story one reads and the ‘other story’, the version of events no one hears; the one that lies behind the characters one meets in a book, and this was what I wanted to explore in Strange Embrace. Except rather than just telling the story behind the story I thought I’d combine the two and tell both tales at once. Strange Embrace is about two very different women who have nothing in common except a man and how this links them, tying them irrevocably together, even through murder.' - Gail Levy
Steve Savage was murdered nearly a year ago. No one has ever been charged for the crime. His daughter, Susan, has the strong feeling someone is watching her. Her friends are beginning to fear for her sanity. Her past, riddled with drug and alcohol abuse and promiscuous relationships, hardly help her credibility. Then her dead father returns from the grave to tell her who his killer was. He asks her to avenge his murder before his stone setting, else he is destined to be a gilgul, a wandering soul for ever.To make matters worse, Susan has discovered that Nick, her father's brother, and her mother are having a passionate love affair. Not that her own relationship with her uncle had ever been that very straightforward! Something must be done, but what? And with the stone setting only a few week's away, how can she save her father's soul in time? Dazzlingly written, with wit and insight, Dance to Your Daddy is a debut novel from a new author with startling talent.