Amis, Martin

New York. 1981. June 1981. Viking Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0670529486. 224 pages. hardcover. Jacket illustration by Carol Wald. keywords: Literature England . FROM THE PUBLISHER - A young woman comes to consciousness in the emergency ward of a London hospital as a voice is whispering that she is all right now, she is on her own, and to be ‘good.' When she opens her eyes, she is alone. She has no idea who, where, or even what she is; her amnesia is so complete that even her own body is unfamiliar. Told to leave, she wanders out into the city streets where everything is alien and terrifying - she views other people as a separate species, and the clouds seem as alive as they. Everything she knows is on the most literal level; she is, in a sense, as innocent as Eve. She wanders through this unknown world, trying to find her place in it, hearing again from time to time the same voice that whispered to her in the hospital - this voice which is sometimes threatening, sometimes compassionate, but always observant, always somewhere in the shadows. She learns that her previous ‘self,' the girl she was before she lost her memory, is believed by the police to have been murdered, and murdered deservedly. Who she really is/was, how her fate and mind have been meddled with, and whether this strange second chance is a blessing or a curse, is only part of the mystery in this brilliantly witty and affecting novel, which is at once serious and playful, with all the terrifying authority of a waking nightmare. inventory #968 ISBN: 0670529486.