Lupa Paperback – September 3, 2012

What prickly reception of love's bell maybe ringing again.brutally honest in the hesitation and subsequent effect for those who dare tread,not to mention a writing style that is well,Marie Marshall.I can only say that the wet eyes of a stranger are integrityboomeranging back into me like lasers. I delve deeper in myself as a result.Lupa's g-d is nemesis,as it should be.She-wolf wants to be a female gladiator in ancient Rome andher story is paralleled by a Serbian born carny girlwho is a disgruntled tourist in today's Rome,loitering in the ruins of old and new love,and symbolically volunteering at an archaeology dig.Each chapter delves deep into both characterswith the transition between two different timescarried out seamlessly. There is much more to tell,the twists and turns of plot, but I won't play spoiler.The play-by-play brutality and color of gladiator dueling is written with Vin Scully objectivitybut this is far more than sport.Lupa is pulled into forbidden regions,into Mithraeum.and Jelena in today's Rome unzips her past while simultaneouslyexperiencing a less than obvious present. She explores questionswe could all benefit from asking.Lupa is magic,but not Walt Disney casting spells magic.it's Magush Persian Magicas in reality as it truly is,mythic subconscious symbols turned inside outas old as tree ringsand as vital as forever.The immediate effect is courage.Lupa begins in Romeand all is not well for carny girl,who we eventually know as Jelena.Is it foul weather?Veils of male cafe bravado?Tito?Trophy wives?war?There is an orphanage of reasonsand a buffet table to choose from withLupa and Jelena sharing a "what is this "feelingunder the reign of love's impermanenceof everything impermanence.And yes you may anticipate the destinationbut not the roads.Unforgettable.

Lupa is the story of two fearless fighters, two She-Wolves, perhaps the avatars of the same wandering spirit, whose destinies become aligned through the mirror of time and dream. The set of the two plots, none other than the Eternal City, casts its many shadows and symbols on both stories.I came upon this book quite by accident, while perusing the poetry section of a blogging site. The author's compelling poetry made me very curious about what her blog announced as her first novel and, indeed, I was not disappointed.Marie Marshall's sharp writing has a wolfish brutality to it that masterfully shape-shifts to raw emotion in Lupa's fighting scenes.Unlike Hesse's Harry Haller, the main characters not only accept but seek out the totemic wolf within.

"South African Indie publishers P'kaboo can be very pleased to have secured the first edition rights to a first novel, Lupa, by the UK writer Marie Marshall, ahead of publishers in her own country. One of the latter has, however, taken an interest in her second novel, but fortunately this is not a sequel to the first.Marie Marshall has already established herself overseas as a writer of poetry and in other genres, but has only recently launched out as a novelist.Lupa is a book which one hesitates to describe in any detail for fear of spoiling a unique experience for readers. The realization of `what the book is about' comes through in gradual and fascinating stages. Surprises abound, the first of which consists of a jump back in time from the life of a retired circus performer who fled from the conflict-torn Balkans and is now in Rome, to the life of a female gladiator in the days of the Roman Empire.The novel is exceptionally well crafted, and shows evidence of meticulous research on the periods and settings. It is also most effectively presented on emotional as well as action levels. In fact, once started Lupa is difficult to put down. Once it is finished, one finds oneself returning to it, whether by rereading or simply by dwelling on the issues raised both by the action and by interactions between the vividly-drawn characters."