Eating Pavlova

the long version

From the celebrated author of The White Hotel comes D.M. Thomas's new novel Eating Pavlova, a fascinating foray into the most influential mind of the twentieth century. It is 1939. The man who lives in London waiting to die, protected from the worst pain of cancer by regular injections of morphine, has had an almost incalculable effect (some would say for the worst) upon modern times. His last dreams, the last hauntings of family ghosts, will draw keen speculations for decades to come. At his side, a no longer young woman devotedly tends him. She has molded her life and identity upon his. She has imitated him - even his erotic attachments. She is Anna: Mother-Anna; Daughter-Anna; Anna Pavlova; Anna-Psyche; Anna Freud. With great craft and intelligence, D.M. Thomas plunges into this man's conscious and unconscious world. He rifles with Anna through her father's diaries where damning secrets lurk. Has Freud planted lies to unnerve Anna or protect himself? Is this what he termed "exploring fiction" or is it one of his elaborate jokes? This conundrum makes Eating Pavlova a powerful, provocative, and delicious reading experience.