The tranquility of the early morning desert was shattered forever at 6:29 AM on October 7, 2023. For Lisa and Michael Marlowe of Hertfordshire, that moment marked the end of the world they knew. Their 26-year-old son, Jake, was murdered by Hamas gunmen during the horrific massacre at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. As a haunting new exhibition arrives in London to recreate the events of that day—the deadliest attack on a music festival in history—Jake’s heartbroken parents share the story of their radiant son, a young man who fled antisemitism in Britain only to find terror in a place he had come to call home. “We are broken beyond belief,” says Lisa, 61. “You never expect to have to bury your child.” For Michael, 64, life is now a mere existence: “I close my eyes and I see Jake.”
Jake Marlowe was a talented bassist, a protective older brother to his autistic sister, and a young man whose smile, according to his parents, could light up any room. Seeking a sense of belonging and safety, he had moved from London to Israel in 2021, disheartened by the antisemitism he witnessed on the streets of the UK. At the Nova festival, he was working as an unarmed security guard. In the panic of the attack, his final act was to call his parents to say he loved them and would call back when things calmed down. That call never came. Michael recounts the agony of watching the chaos unfold on television, the desperate wait for news, and the journey to Israel to identify his son’s body, which had lain in the desert for days. “To hear [Lisa] wailing all those thousands of miles away … I couldn’t hug her … will live with me till the day I die,” he says.
In his final moments, Jake displayed extraordinary courage. Instead of fleeing, he stayed to help countless festivalgoers escape, ultimately being shot nine times. “He died a hero,” Lisa states. “He died trying to help others escape. On that day, he could have run, but he chose to stay and try to save as many lives as possible. That sums up who our boy was.” The Nova Exhibition, which opens in Shoreditch after being seen by over 600,000 people worldwide, is a visceral, painful memorial. It displays the eerie aftermath: abandoned cars, bullet-riddled structures, and thousands of personal artifacts like shoes left behind in the frantic flight. For the Marlowes, bringing the exhibition to London for six weeks is a way of bringing their son home. “Bringing this exhibition to London feels like our boy is coming home,” Lisa shares.
Beyond honoring their son’s memory, Michael sees the exhibition as a crucial tool for combating the rising tide of antisemitism, a hatred that directly impacted their family. He recalls the incidents that drove Jake from Britain and points to recent attacks in Jewish communities in London, including vandalized ambulances and stabbings. “With antisemitism as rife as it is right now, it’s something everyone must see,” he insists. He voices the fear and frustration of many British Jews, asking, “What have we done to deserve all this hate? We’re British Jews, but British first, then Jewish… We’re Jewish people and we’re frightened. How has it come to this?”
Determined to channel their grief into purpose, Lisa and Michael have worked tirelessly to build a living legacy for Jake. They have dedicated an Israeli MDA ambulance in his name, which has already been dispatched over two thousand times. They speak wistfully of hoping for a birth to occur within it, a symbol of new life, as they mourn the grandchildren they now believe they will never have. Guide dogs in Israel bear Jake’s name, a scholarship supports underprivileged youth, and a bomb shelter near the Nova site is dedicated to him. In the UK, they have founded the Jakey M Project, promoting connection and community through music, reflecting Jake’s own spirit and passions.
“Jake was our life’s masterpiece, and we will love him forevermore,” Lisa says. Though engulfed by loss, they are resolved to move forward, propelled by the need to ensure their son is never forgotten. “We can only go one way, which is hopefully up. We are determined to keep Jake’s legacy going. Even though he’s not with us, he’s with us all the time.” The Nova Exhibition stands as a stark, necessary testament to the 413 lives lost, the hundreds injured, and the 44 taken hostage that day. For the Marlowes and countless other families, it is a sacred space of memory and a powerful plea for remembrance, understanding, and, ultimately, a rejection of the hatred that precipitated such profound tragedy.
