Paperback 6" x 9" 92pp Published September 2013
Told in the
first person, this is not a conventional novel, the plot itself
being minimal - though it has a beginning, middle and end - and
carried along on the emotionally explicit narrative detailing the
passion a man has for a younger woman. After a faltering,
self-conscious start, he finally strikes up a relationship with
her, during which we are taken further into the dependence she holds
for him, while she in turn continues to remain out of reach despite
the intimacy that develops between them. Eventually, in various
twists and turns he finds increasingly hard to bear, she breaks off
the relationship, leaving him distraught and on the verge of the
emotional collapse alluded to in the opening paragraph of the piece,
and which is again taken up in the concluding sentences that bring
the story full circle.
I say that
this is not a conventional novel, or novella, and by this I mean it
has an edge, an existential slant and undercurrent running through
it that separates it from the usual mainstream love story as such,
being one of love and longing of an obsessional nature, as the title
itself suggests.
Colin Huggett
This is a very interesting venture. It is a
tenderly told story. I return it because I think others too should
have a chance to read it.
Melvyn Bragg
The narrator’s stage-by-stage deepening
involvement in his obsession is convincing…the detailed account of
very delicate situations and sensitive emotions were accurately and
sometimes movingly caught. These moments kept me reading because I
did genuinely want to see how everything would turn out in the end!
Alan Brownjohn