A Girl Left the Room

With her parents preoccupied by her father’s painting career and their turbulent marriage, 14 year old Tanja is left alone with her longings and dreams, restless for an alluring adult world just beyond reach. Then at a gallery opening, she meets the celebrated writer Eg, a charismatic family friend in his mid-40s. He snaps a photo of Tanja with her own camera and makes her swear she’ll post him the print. Soon, Eg begins writing long, lyrical letters, enchanting her with fairytales and telling her that their first meeting was destined, that their love defies bourgeois norms. But this encounter with sexuality becomes a bewildering, painful awakening: a seduction that will mark Tanja and force her to confront the art world that quietly enabled her abuse. Written with courage and precision, this is a daring novel about a young girl’s loss of innocence and the betrayal of those who surround her.