Ella Bandita and the Wanderer - Softcover

Mahaffey, Montgomery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0990313409 ISBN 13: 9780990313403

Publisher: Free Flying Press, 2014

Synopsis

They were fated to collide, Ella Bandita and the Wanderer. This complex fable about a predatory seductress and an adventurer frozen in grief explores the darkness of the human heart and the allure of erotic obsession over love. The story begins when an outcast young woman tries to kill herself. Yet a sorcerer intervenes with a last chance to change her destiny. But she must be his lover and give him her heart to transform into the immortal Ella Bandita. All his life, the Wanderer hears stories about Ella Bandita, the ruthless thief of hearts. But he never believes she lives and doesn't recognize her when they meet. Driven by lust, he follows Ella Bandita into a battle of wills that threatens to destroy him. The Wanderer wants nothing more than to avenge himself on a woman he loathes, the vagabond seductress who stole his heart.

About this title

About the Author:

Montgomery Mahaffey is a fantasy writer who has told her stories all over the country. Alaskan winters shaped Mahaffey as a writer, and her work is built off of the myriad of personal and collective experiences formed underneath that mystical landscape. Born in the south to a family of storytellers, Mahaffey has developed her own voice that is suffused with the temperament of the wanderer instinct. Set in a world where magic is at once subtle and pervasive, her novels bring to life symbols and stories of the old fairy tales told with wry humor and passion. In 2005 she was granted the Individual Artist Project Award from the Rasmuson Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska. Ella Bandita and the Wanderer is her first novel.

Review:

"Too magical and allegorical to be called ordinary fiction, but too pointed to fit the fantasy genre, they are more akin to magical realism or the modern fables of authors such as Paulo Coelho. Mahaffey is an Alaska writer to watch." - Shana Loshbaugh, The Peninsula Clarion

Montgomery Mahaffey writes with an enthusiastic style in this modern day fable about the extreme measures one girl takes to deal with a brokenheart. Bereft of a loving family for support, Ella Bandita has but onechoice -- as she sees it -- to cope with her own sadness. Rip her heartout. As a reader I have to say I don't know many girls who go throughadolescence without wanting to do the same thing at one point oranother.
Ella's choice sets up a life of sex, adventure and mayhem,creating a very dark heroine who is equally compelling and repulsive. Ireally enjoyed the story and look forward to learning about her furtheradventures.
Much like the titular character grows up without a name,the author writes in a manner which parallels the girl's tragic anddysfunctional circumstances by creating other characters withouttraditional names as well. Yet as a reader I knew who each was, theiroccupation or role and their unique attributes by sheer title alone.
The story unfolds at its own pace, bringing the reader along withoutrevealing too much too fast. I was both appalled by Ella Bandita'sbehavior and fascinated by it. Even when given the opportunity forredemption -- her instinct for survival and her determination to pursuethe path she's chosen -- propels her forward. Ella stays true to form.
While some might characterize her as a zombie, I don't agree with that. She's not some mindless eating machine. Her actions are as deliberate as hertargets. Not those of some out of control monster. As a temptress, she's not so much a marauder as a clever and calculating facilitator intenton thinning the herd. Is she repentant? Not even a little bit. Howrefreshing. - P.S. Meraux, author of Luminary

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Flying Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0990313409
• ISBN 13: 9780990313403
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296