Why Am I For Ever Unloved (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798457745186)

Helena Mitford is not unlike the workaday schoolgirl: her flirtations are frequent, her studies dreadful, her aspirations tremendous. But if one thing were to set her apart from all else, it would be the compulsive hatred everyone has for her - even her teachers. One day, however, a fellow student named Myles makes her acquaintance, defending her from a fierce attack in Sign Language class. This spontaneous act of heroism results in him taking on the role of her designated protector, and later developing something of a longing for her as a companion, which itself transmogrifies into obsession. As the weeks wear on, Myles finds out more about Helena by the day, and he starts to wonder why she elicited such scorn in the first place. When he eventually does discover the reason for her heaped ridicule, it is alas too late, as he has through his lusting fallen prey to the quiet horror of H.I.R.
Told in prose at once glittering and visceral, Why Am I For Ever Unloved presents an intricate portrait of a young girl bedeviled by abuse which, in the end, is justified, and a compelling account of a man driven slowly mad in appeasing the demands of a spurious swain. Imagine, if you can, a teen-age Lolita, or The Outsiders rewritten by Henry James, and a clear idea of the story of the unfortunate Helena Mitford, and the cluelessly sympathetic Myles, will be immediately realized.