The Friend of My Mind by Gil Frank
“Written by a man about the woman he loved with all his soul is healing. We NEED more books and works like these.” —Jessica Coates. Victims of Abuse Advocate During the week of mourning Gil opened the blue crate she never agreed to unpack. He discovered her poems of passion and erotic enjoyment with previous lovers. The family was shocked, but the secret consumed him in a tumultuous whirlwind. He hid it until the family left. Then, he let the verses, like Satan bites, scramble his dreams, twist his grief. He did not eat, headaches detained him. By keeping silent about what led her to carnal passion, she obscured how the wounds of their betrayals still impregned her soul and snuck into their relationship. Friend of My Mind is a two-part dialogue between a man and his departed spouse. He writes the letter she wanted to pen—their love story from his perspective. In part two, he recounts his own journey to love — ‘careloving’ face to face with her death, and himself. Across Paris, Jamaica, Jerusalem and America, the story climbs to “Friend of The Mind” as the response beyond distrust, prior toxic relationships, financial inequality, and ge
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Author Bio:
I lived in Israel, in a kibbutz and in Jerusalem; after 40 years I immigrated to the United States in 2003. My parents were Holocaust survivors. I have a sister in France, she is the daughter of my dad who was married with my mom’s sister, who died in Auschwitz, like all my parents family. I chose the kibbutz life at the age of 18 and left after 20 years for Jerusalem where I met my second wife, Yocheved with whom I came to the States. She died four years ago. I have a daughter and a granddaughter in Atlanta. For 11 years I developed a food justice project in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.
I studied Philosophy and Judaism as well as philanthropy.
Raised in France, living in Atlanta, my desire to own the language and understand America led me to plow through William Faulkner, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison novels. I write in English, French and Hebrew.
Despite my books being based on my experience I believe that life-writing amounts to no more exactitude than fabulation or storytelling, as our lives themselves are often based on the stories we tell ourselves.
I use collage of styles. I call my books ‘works’ to mark the difference between market-oriented products, categorized by genres, and the literary realm in all its manifestations. I do not consider myself a poet but several of my readers find my wording poetic because I blend lyricism in my prose.
I practice the saying: ‘Writing is sustained reading’ as an intense reader, first for pleasure, but also to perfect my craft and learn about other authors.
I wrote three books