Enjoying The Tutor, a novel by Marilee Albert, out from Rare Bird Books:
“…I caress the smooth stone of the famous martyr burned at the stake for heresy five hundred years ago and muse on his sacrifice. Would anyone today give their life for a cause…?”
In Albert’s opening, she introduces us to Alice, a recent Yale graduate navigating Rome, the dating scene and a cheeky Italian man who infuses himself uninvited. He is set on giving her a big break in a local film and Alice plays along. She is witty, engaging and transparent with her reader, conveying the true scope of her inner experience while outwardly acquiescing to the expectations of the men around her—men who have just met her.
Albert captures the essence of assumptions with an ease that pulls her reader in immediately. “Would anyone give their life for a cause?” Alice asks. A timely discourse to be had. READ NOW
About The Tutor
Recent Yale grad, Alice, wants to be close to her boyfriend in Paris, with enough space to sow a few oats. Rome fits, so off she goes. Her other goals? To make art and find a muse. Instead, she finds herself a muse to various men—including a TV-host dwarf, lonely banker, alcoholic playboy, aging prince, and the disillusioned Oscar-winning film director, Frank Colucci.
The middle-aged Frank is in Rome to film the last of his famed movie series, but longs to get back to making art films. Alice, still wandering Rome, lost and confused, tumbles into Frank’s life, and he hires her as his philosophy tutor.
Although at opposite poles of life with little in common—the bright but broke Alice is just getting started and has few prospects, and the married-with-kids Oscar-winner Frank bored and disillusioned—the two form a bond.
Will this be an older, powerful man using his position to seduce a confused young woman, or something else entirely? And will Alice ever find her way? Read more at Rare Bird Books.
About Marilee Albert
