TWO
"I was glad someone wanted to be with me today."
Ella, the free-spirited art school dropout, and Howl, the studious yet blunt college student, are one and the same. Both are college-aged, aimless in life, and haunted by their pasts. They would have never met on any other day, but that changed after a surreal encounter at the park involving an Italian opera Ella could recite but could not understand. As the two investigate the mystery of the unknown opera, they travel through their home city of Charlotte, North Carolina, discovering themselves and forming a strong bond within 24 hours. When Ella unexplainably leaves Howl's life the next day, will their old habits test this newfound friendship?
Told in Howl and Ella's alternating perspectives, this quirky yet poignant coming-of-age novel about friendship offers refreshing subversions to the "boy meets girl" trope.
Praise
"A quietly wise novel [...] Nicolau delivers a charming and honest tale that is written with sensitive prose, providing an off-kilter spin on a classic framework, and delving eloquently into music, mystery, and the demons we all struggle to escape."
- Self-Publishing Review
“There is a haunting, almost mystical quality to Nicolau’s prose. His is a deceptively sparse style, filled with nuance and meaning, with the ability to keep readers immersed in the story of Ella and Howl as they learn about each other, and themselves.”
- Joe Ponepinto, publisher
Orca: A Literary Journal