Late

 Late

Reviewed By  Ian Banks       October 27, 2023

 

Author  Michael Fitzgerald

Distributor:      Transit Lounge
ISBN:                 978-1-923023-02-4
Publisher:         Transit Lounge
Release Date:   October 2023  

   Website:   https://transitlounge.com.au/shop/late/

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Late: always late for everything. She was known for it and even now in her reclusive retirement this pattern still holds. Somewhat lonely but not alone ‘Zelda Zonk’ once a silver screen icon now lives in a very modern apartment overlooking Sydney, two cats for company.

Daniel comes into her life around the time an old typewriter and book arrive, which prompts the beginning of a friendship, changes to both their lives and intimate, intriguing discussions of times past and present.

During the 1970’s and 1980’s the sandstone clifftops around Sydney were known as the haunts for gay men, many of whom were murdered there, their bodies thrown over the Cliffs. Daniel is known to visit this area.

Daniels’ story is gentle, emotional and compliments the older woman’s; both discover they are orphan’s both have led very different lives, which is so many ways makes them the same but vastly different. Both never quite fitting, never quite reaching the much sought pinnacle of perfection.

As the story unfolds, there is the tantalising prospect that perhaps the actress is an all-time favourite and that perhaps she never died, just simply relocated, the entire episode of suicided manufactured in true Hollywood style.

A little confusing to begin with Late is a story that takes time to begin to resonate, to allow the mind to slip back into a time when Hollywood Screen icons were marketed as the characters they portrayed on the screen, frequently misrepresented, their real persona carefully removed from public viewing.

Once this time slip occurs and it will, Late begins to fall into place. Quotes used lavishly join the pieces together, the tempting though that maybe you know who’s story it is, holds firm until the last page.

Fiction