Orpheus Builds a Girl
Heather Parry
Gallic Books, £16.99, 320 pages
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, quoth The Usual Suspects’ Verbal Kint, was convincing the world he didn’t exist. But Gabriela Madrigal has seen him. Or seen one, anyway.
“A banal and common evil” – she thinks – “wrapping [himself] in the language of science and love”, Wilhelm von Tore (b 1919, Dresden) had a traumatic and unloving childhood, and then a hard time letting go, literally, of his adored grandmother.
Determined to believe that “first death is but an obstacle to the continuance of our lives”, he nonetheless says his farewells to Oma, experiencing a vision, not just of her, but also of a young, dark-haired, coquettish girl who, he somehow convinces himself, is “my promised bride”.
