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A Novel
by Janni VismanAn intense, tautly crafted novel of sensual manipulation and suspense that confirms the arrival of a fantastic new talent.
In her spotless top-floor flat, Stella has created the ultimate cocoon. Her life is impeccably ordered, spare, and completely sealed within her London flat. Everything comes to her—her aromatherapy massage clients, her pharmaceuticals, and her lovers. When Ivan, the gasman, comes to fix a leak in her flat, she asks him to stay to for good. Soon, a Vertigo-like spiral of secrets and betrayals begin to seep through the flat like the acrid, yellow odor of gas. And as the two engage in a brilliantly choreographed erotic dance, Stella’s life gradually slips through her fingers as everything she has sought to control turns against her.
TUESDAY
The room is full of the smell of oranges. Ivan is already down to the
pith, the continuous spiral of peel on the table in front of him. Up
till a moment ago we were neck and neck but then my peel broke and I
had to refind my purchase. Up till a moment ago it was perfect
symmetry. We take our time with the pith; let it get under our nails.
I speed up a little to be in sync with him again. The oranges are
fresh; the pith comes off in large sections. We both pile it to the
right of the peel. The next part of our ritual, the part before we
sink our thumbs into the centre to split the fruit apart, is to push
up our sleeves. First we put the orange down on the plate. Then we
push the sleeve on the left arm up. Then the right arm. Gentle,
domestic manoeuvres.
We watch each other as we do this. Content in our ...
Janni Visman
studied film at the London
College of printing and mixed
media at the Slade School of
Fine Art. She lives in London.
Her first novel, Sex
Education was published by
Bloomsbury UK in 2002 and,
according to one reviewer offers
'the most haunting portrayal of
the abusive power of
relationships in girls'
friendships since Atwood's
Cat's Eye'. Yellow is
her second novel and her first
to be published in the USA.
Visman says 'in a desperate rush
to finish my first novel, Sex
...
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