Berlin: After the Fall in Two Stories

The author will share the inspiration behind her novel Looking for Home and a behind-the-scenes look at bringing the screenplay Julie's Spirit to life on screen.

Following the talk will be a screening of the film, which won the 2002 grand prize for Independent Theatrical Feature Films - Foreign at Worldfest Houston.

Julie's Spirit (Julies Geist) follows Julie, a struggling fashion student, as she becomes tied to her classmate, Natascha, by a tragic accident. As Natascha’s ghost haunts Julie over a stolen icon, the two form an unlikely bond while grappling with ambition and redemption.

The novel Looking for Home takes place in 1990, where Eli, a young art journalist with an interest in the painter Balthus, flies to Berlin to find out more about the mysterious artist whose refusal to divulge any biographical details sparks her interest. The Wall has fallen, but the city is uneasy. She falls in love.

It also flashes back to 1906, where Merline, a gifted Jewish artist, trapped in a loveless marriage and shortly to be exiled from her beloved Paris, finds companionship in the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. War is looming on the horizon, and as life in Germany grows harsher, Merline’s health deteriorates as she pines for the man whose words are all of human feeling, but whose heart remains locked away in his castle of solitude.

Eli discovers a series of letters between Merline and René, as she researches deeper into the life of Balthus, Merline’s precocious and gifted son. Eli finds herself drawn deeper into the letters and the world they hint at tantalisingly, as they begin to take on significant parallels in her own life.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Home-Jane-Corbett/dp/1910852929

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