My Mortal Enemy

'She is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers' OBSERVER 'My Mortal Enemy shows Miss Cather's power at its most concentrated . . . It is a fine piece of art' ETHEL WALLACE HAWKINS, ATLANTIC 'But Cather is not just a good writer - she is unique, and great' A. S. BYATT, GUARDIAN 'People can be lovers and enemies at the same time. We were . . . ' Through the eyes of a young girl, Nellie, we view the life of Myra, a legend in the Southern town where both were born. Myra has romantically abandoned the luxury she was born into to elope with the impoverished Oswald Henshawe. Twenty-five years later, Nellie is dazzled when she meets them living in the elegant poverty of an apartment frequented by singers, actors and poets in the heart of the artistic community of old New York. But this shabby gentility gives way to real poverty in a jerrybuilt West Coast hotel and the high purpose of Myra's life - love itself - is revealed to be the enemy within. A finely-wrought study of the great rewards and punishments love brings, My Mortal Enemy is an exquisite example of Willa Cather's art.