PROSE FICTION

Michelene Wandor, writer, author, playwright, dramatist, novelist, editor, poet, short story writer, musician, performer - UKOrfeo’s Last Act (2023)

A Novel in Two Parts

Shortlisted for a Society of Authors’ prize.

Order direct from the Greenwich Exchange website and get Michelene Wandor’s stunning debut novel, Orfeo’s Last Act: A Novel in Two Parts for ONLY £10.00

(Full Publication Price £14.99)

Michelene Wandor’s first novel, Orfeo’s Last Act, was published in 2023, and short-listed for the Society of Authors’ Paul Torday Memorial Prize.

Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century northern Italy in the Golden Age, Orfeo’s Last Act brings the magic of Mantua, Florence and Venice to vivid life.

The Gonzaga Duke objects to the violent ending of Monteverdi’s opera, Orfeo. With the help of Jewish composer, Salamone Rossi, Monteverdi supplies a new happy Act V. The original ending is lost.

In twenty-first-century Britain, amateur musician, Emilia, discovers a faded musical manuscript in an East Anglian stately home … Across the centuries, harmony and discord vie for resolution in a story which thrills and shocks.

A triumphant debut from the poet and critic, Michelene Wandor, Orfeo’s Last Act is a must read for anyone interested in historical fiction or classical music.

‘A well-researched and entertaining read.’
– Sir Roger Norrington.

‘A veritable triumph of historical fiction.’ 
– Jewish Renaissance.

‘This multi-layered and highly readable narrative is an outstanding piece of work.’
– The Jerusalem Post.

Orfeo’s Last Act is published by Greenwich Exchange, at a special price of £10. It is also available as an ebook, for £4.99.

Michelene Wandor, writer, author, playwright, dramatist, novelist, editor, poet, short story writer, musician, performer - UKFour Times EightyOne
(Fortnightly Review, 2021)
Bespoke stories.

‘The Idea’, in For Generations: Jewish Motherhood, eds Mandy Ross and Ronne Randall (Five Leaves, 2005)

Michelene Wandor, writer, author, playwright, dramatist, novelist, editor, poet, short story writer, musician, performer - UKFalse Relations
Collection of short stories. (Five Leaves, 2004)

Michelene Wandor, writer, author, playwright, dramatist, novelist, editor, poet, short story writer, musician, performer - UKArky Types
Epistolary novel, co-written with Sara Maitland. (Methuen, 1987)

 

More Tales I Tell My Mother
Same authors as above, ten years on. (Journeyman Press, 1987)

Michelene Wandor, writer, author, playwright, dramatist, novelist, editor, poet, short story writer, musician, performer - UKGuests in the Body
Own first short story collection. (Virago, 1986)

‘Michelene Wandor’s achievement is that difficult one of movement within the compass of a short story…the sentiment is true and honest. Further, it is played off against a clear-eyed and pitiless Jewish humour. Without trickery, Michelene Wandor has something real to say and the spirit to say it brilliantly.’
– Books and Bookmen, 1986

‘Careful and highly polished.’
– The Times, 1986

‘Wandor is an accomplished writer, with a sharp ear for dialogue and rhythm.’
– The Listener, 1986

‘Wandor captures Yiddish rhythms and interlaces them with sardonic Jewish jokes.’
– Julia Pascal, Jewish Chronicle, 1986

‘Certain trends in the arts are generally acknowledged as being ahead of their time, and never was this more true than in the relationship of Jewish feminist literature to the movement out of which it sprang, and which it has now superceded. Michelene Wandor has once again produced a work that thumbs its nose at conformity.’
– Jewish Quarterly, 1986

Tales I Tell My Mother
Anthology of stories with Sara Maitland, Zoe Fairbairns, Michele Roberts and Valerie Miner. (Journeyman Press, 1978)