It will be 20 years since the collapse of the Berlin Wall on 9^th November 1989. Lisa Selvidge moved to West Berlin in 1984 and fell into the avant-garde, anarchic lifestyle of eighties Berlin. Now an author and creative writing tutor she has written a new novel, The Last Dance over the Berlin Wall, inspired by her time spent living in the walled-in city.

SYNOPSIS:

In 1984, Johnny East, a dancer, is invited to Berlin by mad Alice, an English girl living a bohemian life in the city at the heart of the Cold War. Alice is besotted with Johnny, but on a trip to the East one day, Johnny meets and falls in love with a Russian aerialist in East Berlin. They begin an affair that leaves a trail of East-West transits, both legal and illegal, including one of the most daring crossings of the Berlin Wall.

Twenty years on Johnny is the director of an aerial company and with an exciting new performance returns to Berlin, a new vibrant city, to face the ghosts of the past.

The Last Dance over the Berlin Wall is a story of young love, decadence and tragedy in the walled-in city of West Berlin.

‘An utterly compelling story which draws the reader into the fractured world of eighties Berlin, where life is fast paced, subversive, at times beautiful, but also tragic. Lisa Selvidge’s writing is as eloquent and supple as the aerialiste at the heart of the book. This novel is a spellbinding tale of individual consequences spinning out from a striking political divide.’ Sarah Law, Poet, Lecturer, London Metropolitan University

‘The avant garde, all night culture of West Berlin in the 1980s exists now only in the precarious memories of its punk rock survivors. Lisa Selvidge’s novel allows those who were not there a glimpse of this extraordinary historic and cultural moment. Her characters are richly drawn, wholly convincing, and emblematic of that time and place.’ Cid Pearlman, Choreographer, West Berlin resident 1984-1986

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Selvidge has an MA in creative writing from the University of East Angliaand taught creative writing for 9 years at both the UEA and the Norwich School of Art & Design. She is the author of The Trials of Tricia Blake, A Divine War and a Writing Fiction Workbook. She has also edited a collection of writings about the Algarve called Summer Times.

The book is published by Montanha Books and is available from online bookshops and www.lisaselvidge.comfor £10.95. It is also available as a download for £3.50 from http://stores.lulu.com/lisa9

www.lisaselvidge.com

For interviews with Lisa, review copies, please contact:

Suzanne@Stunning PR or suzanne@stunningpr.com, 07957 371840

Tags: Berlin Wall, Fiction, Lisa Selvidge, The Last Dance over the Berlin Wall