Natalie Natalia

Natalie Natalia is a novel by Nicholas Mosley first published in 1971 about a middle-aged British MP who, while seemingly on the brink of insanity, conducts an adulterous affair with the wife of a colleague.

Despite the outward perfection of his life, Greville is having an affair with sculptor Natalia Jones, an enigmatic mother of two who is married to a husband in politics who cheats on her.

For instance, although Natalia does not make any demands on him, and his wife prefers not to see what is going on, Greville is torn between the two women.

To Anthony Greville, Natalia is an angelic figure who also symbolizes a diametrical opposite, specifically demonic.

This is a startling announcement because Greville comes from a family of politicians, and his son is already active in grassroots politics.

However, before his intended resignation, he must complete a final diplomatic mission as an MP; he journeys to Central Africa to meet Ndoula, a controversial freedom fighter who has been imprisoned by the colonial powers.

When Greville returns to England, he finds that both his wife and his idealistic son are leaving for Africa in order to help the current crisis.

Greville sees them off at the airport, and then returns to Natalia, even though she has not answered his letters from abroad.

Although interesting and similar in content and intent to the works of Graham Greene, the plot line of Natalie Natalia can be construed as "difficult to follow" because the linear narration is interrupted by segments where Greville's thoughts, dreams, and fantasies become the focus of the prose.

An example of such an interruptive/introspective segment in Greville's POV (from Chapter 7) follows : […] I had rowed into the harbour from the sea; the oars had made whirlpools.

The man with the beak of a bird put his head down to embrace you: with one arm round his neck, you were a tunnel through which he could breathe.