Synopsis

Caught between a distant father’s precision crafting of elegant timepieces and an enigmatic mother’s fascination with telling fortunes with blots of ink, Anton Zellinsky seeks to discover his identity and unravel the unsettling ambiguities of his boyhood. A historical fiction, The 11th Inkblot is a coming of age story and mystery involving unexplained family alienation and childhood grief. Anton’s memoir tells of his lifelong quest to solve the puzzle of his mother’s sudden disappearance from his life when he was a child. His search leads him to the Eastern Front in World War I, where poignant encounters with unforgettable figures leave traces that continue to haunt him for years to come. Through these experiences, he confronts horrors of war, endures traumatic twists of fate, and struggles to decipher what is real from what is not. His descent into madness leads him to search for his mother as he encounters lost family members in Hungary and becomes entangled in the lives of vibrant and mysterious Romani characters and the sinister forces determined to destroy him. Eventually finding himself a patient at the renowned Bürgholzli Clinic in Zurich, he encounters psychiatric luminaries Carl Jung and Hermann Rorschach, each of whom plays a different role in retelling his story. The 11th Inkblot invites the reader to become a passenger on a creative and moving interpretive journey of loss, discovery, acceptance, and redemption.

Synopsis

WAKE UP! Wake the hell up.

Haunted by a face at his window, Carmine Luedke, a narcoleptic bookkeeper, hides from the world and “sleepwalks” through life by immersing himself in numbers and arcane mathematical proofs. With his job at stake, he frantically tries to balance the books for his most important client. But the numbers keep disappearing.

A startling visit from E, an old friend he’d thought was dead, threatens to rip a hole in his desolate and predictable life. “We need people with your mathematical brilliance to join our secret team. Watch for the signs!” But as she delivers her urgent message, Carmine has a sleep attack.

Searching for hidden clues, he asks a coworker about this mysterious visitor. Her shocking response leads him to unravel. Two days later, he’s accused of a crime and committed to the state hospital. Anne, his self-absorbed older sister, teams up with a combat-tested female deputy to decipher the events that have shattered his life. Each, like Carmine, is hiding from her past.
As he retreats further into himself, an unexpected source of help comes from a Navajo Healer who sees one last chance to reach him. But can she help Carmine “awaken” to uncover the truth behind the face at his window and discover the truth about himself?

A tale of somnolence and awakening.