"Write books only if you are going to say in them the things you would never dare confide to anyone." (Emil Cioran)
A rambling soul, a restless mind. Liliana Badd graduated from the University of Germanic Languages in Bucharest. For twenty years, she was a professor of English literature and linguistics in France. Since 2000, she has been living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Exit is her second novel.
"Exit" is the story of a frustrated middle-aged woman, settled in her bourgeois Parisian life, feeling that she has failed her life, having always yearned to accomplish something by herself and not through her entourage. Unexpectedly, as it often happens in our fragile lives, when a simple glitch is enough and all turns upside down, Ondine's life collapses. She finds out that she has leukemia. It is through her illness she valiantly fights that she achieves what she has always dreamed about - being Ondine. Becoming a writer.
Ondine's story is dedicated to all those men and women I will never meet in person, and whose lives collapsed on a beautiful day, condemned to an incurable illness. It is my hope that Ondine's story will be like a ray of sunshine, a pleasant interlude, in their daily wrestle. And when they feel depressed, defeated and overwhelmed by their fate, I would like to remind them that, for as little as we know with certitude, for wealthy or poor, for healthy or sick, for old or younger, for all of us, sooner or later, at the end of our journey through the space called Life, there it is, majestic in its implacable serenity, silently awaiting... the EXIT.
The book ends with a twist — a shocking twist that will truly surprise my readers.
The Author
I was asked:
Why do you think that this book will appeal to readers?
The book will appeal to readers in many ways. The readers will find a detailed, intimate description of the profoundness of a woman's soul — the dreams of a woman's heart, the torments of love and jealousy; the choice of becoming a wife, a mother; the complex relationship between children and parents; the possessiveness of men's over women. Maxim, Ondine's husband, loves Ondine possessively, he owns her, although he refuses, for long years, to tell her openly "I love you," which will often hurt Ondine's feelings. At times, Ondine will feel suffocated by his torrid passion. Ondine describes her metamorphosis from a selfish lover to a responsible mother as follows: the lover — the age of irresponsibility, the wife — the age of adjustment — the mother — the age of painful liability.
When Ondine's life collapses, the readers will be confronted to her quest, with her depression and some fundamental questions about life and death. What does life mean? What does love mean? What does death mean? Ondine will have the courage to affront what seems to be insurmountable. Isn't life, from its beginning to its end, a challenge? How do we deal with our daily challenge? Does a terminally ill patient having achieved a beyond medical help stage have the right to end his or her life and choose the time and date of his or her death?
Then, the book is a mine of information — the readers will learn about Paris, the city or romance and love, about the events of May 1968 that shook France to its foundations, about the tragedy of the street children in Bucharest, Romania - innocent victims of a communist regime, about the Commune of Paris, an historical event that happened in 1871 and has highly impacted the history, about Lourdes — the city of miraculous healings, and much more... so much more.
Who is your target audience?
Women and men alike. All those who ask themselves questions on our tribulations in the space called Life, on destiny, on death, on love, on friendship, on determinism and free will. At a certain moment, Ondine asks herself the question: "Why does one write? For whom does one write? You write, that's all. You write for the people who read you."
Is this your first book? If not, please list other books that you have written.
EXIT is my second novel.
My first book is Living Shadows. Living Shadows will be forever my cast-off child. Not because it happens to be my first novel. Because it is an autobiographic novel and I have not allowed myself to write without restraint — I held back. I held back emotions, feelings; I did not allow my fountain pen to feel free, as with Exit. I wrote Living Shadows as if I had a moral duty toward those who had been in my life and now are smoke, memories. I did not write Living Shadows with a desire for people to read it.
However, Living Shadows is not a wasted effort. Parts of it will be remodeled, recreated, entirely rewritten and will become a living tissue in my next novel, the Hourglass.
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