Cirrus@Austlit

'‘May I?’

'She nodded.

'Andreas settled down beside Annabelle on the steps.

'They sat in silence, watching the harbour city below, their eyes following tiny coloured lights — boats scampering along the surface of the dark water. But it was the night sky with the stars and the moon, and the seagulls chasing insects caught in the upward lights, that held their fascination.

'Finally, they turned their gaze upon each other.

'‘We seem to have a profound affinity. Goethe wrote about the mystery of attraction and the atoms which link people to each other.’

'Annabelle’s eyes brightened. She listened with her whole being.

'‘It’s the title of one of his works, Elective Affinities,’ he continued, ‘the deep affinities between two people — that they choose each other. It’s very powerful. Have you read it?’

'Annabelle felt a shiver of recognition skimming along her skin.'

'He is mysterious and immensely wealthy, a banker. She is his apparent opposite, creative and idealistic. But she too is lost and unhappy. They are separated by oceans and continents and much more. Despite their seeming differences, they fall in love. They arrange to meet in New York. Afterwards they will fly to London and from there to Paris, his suite at The Ritz, and to his château in the South of France. But there are many surprises ahead, especially for the woman whose journey leads her to Morocco and finally to the Swiss Alps where she finds the answers she has been looking for.

This unconventional love story incorporates a contemporary backdrop of many elements — conspicuous wealth and globalisation; the harm and suffering caused by the politics of medicine; the world of art, myth and literature; the power of places and the ecstasy and agony of falling in love.' (Source: Australian Writers Network, October 2011.)