Mayamia

Maya, the heroine of Suzane Adam`s sweeping novel, falls in love with three very different men. Each time, she has a different, primal experience, as if she had never been in love before. Each man is like the first for her, and she conducts her love affairs concurrently, refusing to break them off, and avoiding making a choice. At seventeen and a half, she meets David on a class trip, and he tells her that God copied her from a Botticelli painting. David, an artist who lives with his aunt, is supported by the money his parents send him from Boston. Maya, who has an artistic soul, is attracted to this strange and unique character and becomes his girlfriend. She forgives his moods and outbursts of anger and waits patiently for the day when he exhibits his first sculpture. Up till now, he has destroyed all of his works. The day never comes. After two years together, David loses his sanity and is sent to a mental institution. An ordinary girl would probably prefer to forget the traumatic episode and open a new chapter, but Maya remains in touch with David, even after she meets the stable, quiet and loving Ilan, who calls her Mayamia. They marry, move into an apartment one floor above Ilan`s parents, and live an exemplary bourgeous life. Ilan manages his father`s refrigeration truck business, and Maya begins studying art history. Later, she manages the family`s souvenir store in Old Jaffa. All this time she is faithful to David`s memory, since a part of her remains “married” to the crazy artist, as it were. Then Boaz comes into her life, a charmer with whom she enjoys discussing philosophy and sex. Maya has the best of all possible worlds, and only when she is about to become a mother, and after David`s death, does she choose a single, logical path.