Esther Gerritsen’s first novel is the oppressive monologue delivered by a woman to her boyfriend whom she has literally bound and gagged and takes place entirely in their home on the attic floor of a house from where they are supposed to be moving that day. The young woman has tied up her lover, laid him on the bed and started to talk to him. About herself, her family, their relationship.

She is neither defending nor attacking. She does not wish to harm him in any way. What she primarily wants is to regard him with new eyes – as a stranger would, as someone standing between her and herself. The very silent, helpless presence of her boyfriend prompts her into reflection.

Poignant, with a good feeling for detail, Gerritsen describes the dark sides of a passionate love and the troubled spirit of a woman who refuses to accept the world as it is.