Kathleen Novak

Do Not Find Me Kathleen Novak

As a young man, Gigi Paulo arrives in New York and is immediately drawn to a girl he sees in a bar near Penn Station. Before he can approach her, she is gone. He returns to the bar for weeks in hopes of seeing her again, dreams of her at night, and searches the crowds for her face. Quiet and careful, he is not the type to become obsessed by a stranger. But obsessed he is. Two years later he meets her at a party. Her name is Corrine. She seems to like his cooking and the blues albums he collects, but she never stays with him for long. As he discovers the secrets and violence of her life, Gigi finds himself unable to rescue her and barely able to save himself. He flees New York, but his obsession with Corrine follows him, even when he returns to his home in northern Minnesota, where he marries, has a daughter, and fishes the deep, quiet lakes he knows so well. After he dies, his daughter uncovers her fathers desire for this unknown woman, leaving her to question the inherent perils of his life as well as her own. Dark and poetic, Do Not Find Me moves between the voices of Gigi Paulo and his daughter with a compelling grace, its haunting undercurrents remaining long after the story has ended.