My Life
An Abridged Version
As with most lives, mine has been filled with joy and sorrow. I have won some and lost some. For the most part, the adventure has been a joyful one.
I have traveled the world. For a while, I lived in the Far East. I have worked in many professional arenas where, at the time, I was considered an oddity because of my gender. I have experienced great personal loss.
Through it all, I have looked at life as a mystery and an adventure. Life is a mystery because all is never anticipated or known. Life is an adventure because mysteries beg to be solved. Who can resist the challenge?
“Life is made up of discovery and romance. Discovery informs; romance embellishes.” — Lynn Rosen
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A Man of Genius
Synopsis
The contemporary literary landscape is littered with unreliable narrators. Yet none may have a more compelling and complex story to tell than Arthur Dolinger, through whose voice A Man of Genius [April 2016] – the stunning debut novel from octogenarian author Lynn Rosen – is told.
Centered on Samuel Grafton-Hall — a 20th Century architect whose work is brilliant and revered while he stands above the fray, unrepentant for his peccadilloes and perversions — A Man of Genius immerses its reader in his glamorous lionizing world. As Dolinger, Grafton-Hall’s lawyer and executor, attempts to piece together an extraordinary mystery prompted by a strange codicil in the architect’s will, readers are swept into the mind and misdeeds of a man of genius who revels in his cynicism and disdain, and leaves colleagues, lovers, and friends deeply scarred for knowing him.
Then there is the murder. Could the question of who committed the murder — and who died — be of less consequence than the question of whether the mark of genius justifies forbearance?
“A Man of Genius deals with the questions that surround memory – its validity, application, and our reliance on it,” states Rosen. “But beyond the level of its plot, it examines the reader’s own system of moral obligation.”
Full of breathtaking imagery, doomed affairs, and questions for which there are few uncomplicated answers, A Man of Genius is an evocative and suspenseful look at a life of glittering achievement and unrestrained hubris. A dazzling work of fiction from an exciting new voice, Rosen’s debut is a not-to-be-missed addition to the bookcases of fans of Agatha Christie, Daphne DuMaurier, and Gillian Flynn.
REVIEWS
What People Are Saying
As John Ruskin said:
“All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.”
Slow but lovingly crafted and complex; a nightstand book for lovers of Wuthering Heights and Bleak House.”
‘. . . a wonderful story reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca . . . Rosen is a masterful storyteller, grabbing the reader’s attention by the end of the prologue, then slowly revealing the story out of chronological order and in distinct stages, making this novel difficult to
put aside until its suspenseful conclusion.” 5 Stars
“Rosen creates a remarkable and refreshing suspense thriller in A Man of Genius, her debut novel.”
“…reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier and Emily Brontë with its evocative literary quality. . . . a lyrical contemporary novel with Gothic elements addressing themes of morality, memory, guilt, and hubris while providing unremitting suspense for the reader.”
“It is definitely a book to read multiple times . . . Lynn Rosen presents a brilliant novel with a complex moral and personal issues at the center. It includes characters, scope, and voice that make you forget this is a literary debut. Definite must-read for thoughtful fans of literary fiction and for book clubs!”
Musings
Musing is the vehicle that evokes memories and burnishes them with tones of today.
Life Among the Walruses
I woke up one morning and my face was gone! Despite my sleep-filled eyes, I could see that the face that looked back at me from the bedroom mirror wasn't mine. I live alone. So, if the face that looked back at me wasn't mine, then whose was it? And where was mine? It...
On Freedom
I first came upon the concept of freedom in the years just before World War II, while attending primary school in New York City. Before that time, I roamed about testing my boundaries by simply acting upon my impulsive wishes and desires – stretching them to their...
Anger Management
When the voices of children are heard on the green, And whisperings are in the dale: The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind, My face turns green and pale. Nurse’s Song William Blake Songs of Innocence ...
Childhood
A long time ago, perhaps it was 1938, in that other world called “childhood,” I had a doll - a Princess Elizabeth doll. My Princess Elizabeth doll had blonde hair like me. She started out with brown eyes, but my mother had them painted blue so that Princess...
A Prayer
"God willing, I pray we may grow old together.'' A wish for a lifetime. But, be careful what you wish for. If we live as a couple for what seems a lifetime, through that time together we move down winding passages, from the initial delight of the romantic to the...
My Grandmother — The Witch
The light blue irises that floated in her watery eyes conjured thoughts of lily pads floating on a pond, and like the lily pads I had an urge to touch them, or maybe to drop into the water like the fairies do and swim in their depths. She was a small woman who seemed...
Can You Imagine…
… a time when a business credit card issued to a professional woman would be rejected at most restaurants? (How could a woman legitimately have a credit card in her own name?) … a time when a professional woman meeting a client for a working lunch would be escorted...
Requiem for Mr. Turtle
We always treated him with great respect, even though we harbored varying degrees of affection. After all, we named him Mr. Turtle. Mr. Turtle lived in a substantial glass bowl containing water, a jagged rock to climb, and a couple of plastic fish for companionship...
The Tortoiseshell Comb
Many years ago, on a surprisingly sunny day in late fall, in a medium-sized university town in upstate New York, well before streets gave way to highways that accompany urbanization, I drove home from my office enjoying the twinkling lights peeking through the...
The Pickle Man
Some memories disappear with time, others are distorted by time, and others remain imbedded in our mind in their original form, appearing at their own whim. That’s how my memory of the pickle man first functioned. With no directive on my part, it appeared and...
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I’d love to hear from you about my Musings and my book, A Man of Genius.