Written On The Body

Louise is the object of the narrator’s romantic obsession. When the two meet, she is the childless wife of Elgin Rosenthal. Originally from Australia, Louise has a doctorate in art history. She has asymptomatic leukemia, and she has had at least one miscarriage. Louise and the narrator meet through mutual friends and begin an affair while Elgin is traveling out of town. Louise wants to leave her husband to be with the narrator, but after Elgin tells the narrator that Louise is ill and needs his help for treatment, the narrator decides to break off the affair.

At first, Louise is the means through which the narrator breaks with the conventional, domestic life the narrator shares with Jacqueline. Later, Louise’s illness causes the narrator to make a single-minded decision regarding Louise’s future: the narrator, independent of Louise’s desires, sacrifices their relationship so that Louise will return to her husband and seek treatment for leukemia. In the end, however, Louise reunites with the narrator in Yorkshire, after the narrator, regretting the sacrifice, goes back to London to find her.

Elgin was Louise’s high school debate team opponent. As a young medical student, he wanted to help people in Third-World countries; after his mother dies from bone cancer, he decides to pursue a career in oncological pharmaceutical research. Despite his selflessness in early life, Elgin appears to be primarily motivated by money and status.

Elgin was born and raised an Orthodox Jew who attended school on scholarships. His parents, Esau and Sara, resided in a house in the Stamford Hill area of London in which they had squatted during World War II, buying it with gold from the original owners upon their return. Sara nearly died during labor and reminded Elgin throughout his youth that “Jehovah spared me to serve you” (33). Esau and Sara were highly religious, and they broke off contact with Elgin when he married Louise, a Gentile. Louise notes that Elgin was initially attracted to her because she was “beautiful” and “a prize” (34). She describes Elgin as a sexual masochist who requests that she inflict severe pain upon his genitals during sex.

At the time of the narrative, Elgin and Louise are no longer having sex, and their marriage appears to have dissolved emotionally as well. Despite the breakdown of their relationship, Elgin tries to prevent Louise from divorcing him by offering her access to state-of-the-art cancer treatment at his Swiss clinic. Later, it is implied that he wished to avoid divorce in order to be included in the Civil List, a prestigious group of vendors who provide services to the Royal Family. 

Gail Right is an unattractive, heavy-set, hard-drinking older woman who owns the wine bar in Yorkshire where the narrator works after leaving London. She is attracted to the narrator and is willing to enter a relationship with the narrator even though she knows that the narrator still loves Louise. The narrator is not attracted to Gail, but nonetheless, the narrator accepts car rides home from Gail, shares a bed with her without having sex, and brings her tea when she bathes in the ancient tub in the dilapidated rented cottage they sometimes share.

Although initially portrayed as a pathetic, needy older woman, Gail is ultimately a wise advisor to the narrator and the most altruistic character in the novel. She observes that the narrator is wrong to have left Louise, and she encourages the narrator to return to London to find Louise.