Catalogue of Desire and Disappearance

 Catalogue of Desire and Disappearance

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       August 30, 2023

 

Author  Ana Cruz

Distributor:      Waterstones
ISBN:                 9798391955344
Publisher:         Independant Publication
Release Date:   May 2023  

   Website:   https://www.waterstones.com/

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Set in the time of ‘’Cold War’ East Berlin and modern day, Ana Wolfe is a librarian who has little, if any self-worth. She is 28 years old, still living at home and has no real desire to move out or get a boyfriend or even consider marriage.

She is walking home from a late evening at the Lichtenberg Public Library where she works, when she thinks she sees a body of something small lying at the base of trash bin; this turns out to be a pile of rubbish, an old marble statue and a pile of papers that look like they are handwritten. On closer inspection they seem to be some sort of diary.

So begins a most intriguing tale Catalogue of Desire and Deception that is captivating, with a very strong link to the history of the very frightening days of the Cold War, where to be different, to enjoy any aspect of life, to be a ‘gay or lesbian couple’ was to invite serious trouble.

Gabriella Meyer was a sex therapist, a woman who loved to help others, to make them as happy and enchanted with their partners in a loving and sexual manner, as she was with her beloved husband Berndt. It is her diary Ana has found and finds intriguing, fascinating and also very worrying.

As Ana becomes more involved with Gabriella’s story so she becomes more concerned about what happened to her and Berndt; she also begins to further explore who she is and slowly venture into the world of dating and sexual discovery.

Ana Cruz has crafted very real characters who become alive on the pages, as they develop the characteristics that make them seem familiar, very much like people we all know. The story flows effortlessly segueing between the years with graceful aplomb to deliver a very easy, light read with a somewhat unexpected twist at the end.

Fiction, Historical