The Lake

Daniel Villasenor

A haunting story of a young man's emotional rollercoaster ride as he tries to understand himself. A tragic and yet beautiful read which is hard work but ultimately rewarding. Glimpses and images will stay with you long after you've finished reading.

Extract

Canada reached into the pocket of his overalls and pulled out a harmonica and began to play. He did not sway or express at all; he just sat like a statuefied musician but the sounds that came out of him were mournful almost beyond bearing and Zach thought again about the incommensurate nature of the world and its surfaces and then he felt an immense loneliness like a wave breaking inside his body ....

He looked at Anna. She'd loosed the top buttons of her wool flannel which itself was cinnabar and like her skin darkly lambent in the fire light ... the flames tripped their amber gamboling figures on her open neck which was hot in the flames, even to his eyes. As if his eyes could feel. As if the flames were tonguing her. I have never looked at a woman before, he thought. He almost said it out loud.

Parallels