This morning I would like to review a book called The affairs of others by Amy Grace Lloyd. The affairs of others reveals the different lives held within a Brooklyn brownstone; a landlady and her tenants. Apparently an ordinary story at the outset, the tale reveals characters, some of whose personal lives inhabit a dark underworld. As the plot progresses we are provided with insights, the psychology and the axis around which these dark worlds revolve. What is unwholesome in nature the author dissects in view of the characters involved to reveal their losses, of a way to face themselves inside. And the world outside. What is revealed is loneliness and neediness.
All in all, this is a story with intrigue, suspense, unexpected and exotic twists.
Whereas up until this book Amy Grace Lloyd has an editor rather than a writer I found I really enjoyed how she commanded language in this first novel. And also she took on and managed quite dark material. The latter I would have found overbearing if the book was presented in cinematic format, but the written word is a safer interface. It is the reader who gets to create the visual from their own head, dictated by their own imagination and their own limits.
Enjoy your reading.
Links : Library catalogue ; Author on Twitter