Kelcey Parker

Liliane's Balcony: a Novella of Fallingwater Kelcey Parker

Liliane's Balcony is a multi-voiced novella-in-flash set at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. Built for Pittsburgh merchants E. J. and Liliane Kaufmann in 1935, the house is as much a character as it is a setting. One September night in 1952, Liliane Kaufmann--tired of her husband's infidelities--overdoses on pain pills in her bedroom. From there, Liliane's Balcony alternates Mrs. Kaufmann's mostly true story with the fictional narratives of four modern-day tourists who arrive at the historic home in the midst of their own personal crises, all of which culminate on Mrs. Kaufmann's over-sized, cantilevered balcony. With its ghosts, motorcycles, portraits, Vikings, failed relationships, and many layered voices, Kelcey Parker's Liliane's Balcony is as dizzying and intricately beautiful as the architectural wonder in which it is set.