Don't Leave Me Alone

Don't Leave Me Alone is defined as a love story, in which the first person character is a middle-aged man. He has several children somewhere, and a lengthier cohabitation that painfully crumbled, now behind him. He lives in the Tallinn district of wooden apartment houses called Uus Maailm in the so-called "Poor Writers' House" an old, stove heated wooden building that houses quite a number of other writers. The love story is aimed at defining a relationship with two young women. Firstly, a young and beautiful Laura, who indeed becomes the writer's wife by the end of the book. Secondly, an Eastern German university student Jessica, who moves from the community house into the writer's apartment. Being together with her is terrific, at least at first, both in conversation and in silence. The feelings of a man past the mid-point of his life--alongside living with nearly two women--intermingle with a fear of being alone. Overarching this fear, however, is the need to demonstrate care: Laura, just like his child Sissi, and Kustas--maybe even Jessica as well--all require care in their own way. Just as the writer needs it himself. At the same time, one gets a sense of how difficult it is to often achieve or express this intimacy. And so, this work is an exceptionally distinct love story all the same-- written in an unexpected way. Obscenely Sauter-ish, without glossing anything over or leaving anything unsaid. This novel is deeply autobiographical, and as such, it is more than enchanting. It is written in a profoundly philosophical and tragic way about very simple things, next to heating the stove and cleaning the kitchen. It is a poignant story about a person's vulnerability, addiction to relationships, and the forms and triangles of every sort of love.
About the Author: Peeter Sauter (b. 1962), the author of a dozen books, has been an important name in Estonian short prose since 1990. He studied drama at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn and at John Moores University in Liverpool. His works include plays and film scripts, travel books, a collection of poetry, and children's literature. A master of dialogues, the logic and rhetoric of Sauter's characters hold a kind of organic naturalism coupled with a very humane warmness. Sauter has translated the works of Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski into Estonian. Sauter's short novel Indigo (1990) was the literary manifest and turning point of his generation. The last few years have been very fertile for the author, and were ultimately crowned by his full-length novel Ära jäta mind rahule (Don't Leave Me Alone).