Hans-Christian Oeser

Mrs Delia Bagot devotes herself to looking after the house and garden, her husband Martin, daughters Lily and Margaret, dog and cats. Sometimes, however, she can't find the energy for her life. Then she dreams of simply flying away on her carpet of pink roses. And once the children are gone, she feels so lonely that she seeks solace in her own shadow. Maeve Brennan's eight stories about Delia and Martin Bagot are masterfully written, melancholic and beguilingly beautiful. They deal with a marriage in which there is no longer any language or gestures for love and grief. But even the Bagots were once lovers. The last and longest story in the book tells of this, in which a new, impressively malicious voice comes into play: Martin's twin sister Min. The old woman has been living among the Bagots' furniture since their death. Delia's beloved carpet now lies in Min's living room and Martin's wedding ring is on her finger - the final triumph of a vengeful but also deeply wounded person.