CAMILLE AND THE RAISING OF EROS a novel by WILIAM ROSE

Spain, 1920s. The lives of three Carmelite nuns intersect and develop through a period of intense experience. In their personal histories there is great contrast, from the artistic exuberance of Paris in ‘La Belle Époque’ to slavery in Africa, but a past element is shared that has deeply affected each one. This novel is a striking exploration of personal history aided by the spirited observations of an eccentric French psychoanalyst. It is also an emotive reflection upon the agony of maternal loss and betrayal, and upon love.

William Rose adeptly guides the narrative through Africa, Spain and France in the early decades of the 20th century, as the characters reveal their histories and discover the destinies that await them.

Though most of the characters are fictional there are some drawn from history, notably the French psychoanalyst and friend and disciple of Sigmund Freud, Princess Marie Bonaparte. The artist Felicien Rops who plays a major part in Rose’s first novel ‘The Strange Case of Madeleine Seguin’ also makes a brief appearance. The author draws from his interests in mythology, early psychoanalysis, and art, with one chapter set almost completely in the Great Paris Exhibition of 1900.

Click here: For a review by The Camden New Journal and also printed in the Islington Tribune

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