The Fainting Room

March 18, 2013
In a masterful exploration of longing and its consequences, Strong throws a teenager who craves attention, an architect in crisis, and a beautiful newlywed into an emotionally explosive triangle. Sixteen-year-old Ingrid is suspended from her boarding school and taken in by privileged Bostonian Ray Shepard and his troubled wife Evelyn. Evelyn grew up in a traveling circus with high-wire parents and married an abusive sword-swallower who later died. Ray offers the stability Evelyn has fantasized about all her life, but they’re both frustrated by the difficulty she has with adjusting to his uptight lifestyle. Along with the tattoos that cover most of her body, Evelyn hides her background from Ray’s friends and colleagues and has no job or friends of her own. Precocious, manipulative newcomer Ingrid soon has both Shepherds confiding in her. A thin mystery thread serves two entwined purposes in Strong’s second novel (after Burning the Sea): the unraveling of Evelyn’s secrets, and the evolution of Ingrid’s noir-inspired alter ego. The magic, however, doesn’t lie in the past, where the narrative veers dangerously close to melodrama, but in the present, with Strong’s spellbinding insights into the complexity of desire. Agent: Cameron McClure, the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

March 15, 2013
Strong (Burning the Sea, 2002) presents a disturbing and erotic narrative about the lives of an oddly matched married couple who host a teenage girl for the summer. Ray Shepard is a prominent architect who marries Evelyn, a former circus employee/manicurist with a dark past, after he meets her while both attend a show under the big top. Evelyn's arms and torso are heavily tattooed, and she keeps her skin hidden from Ray's colleagues and friends; but Ray is sexually aroused by the images and colors beneath her long sleeves and buttoned-up collars. Evelyn knows she doesn't fit into Ray's privileged world and believes that his peers are more judgmental than her naive husband realizes. Her clumsy attempts to adapt end in failure and resentment on her part, but Ray innocently believes that once his colleagues and friends get to know his wife, they'll understand exactly why he married her. Enter Ingrid, a rebellious teenager who's been suspended from a nearby boarding school for the summer after being caught with alcohol. Unconventional and emotionally isolated, she's drawn to the flawed couple and becomes a pivotal participant in their dysfunctional world. Ingrid and Ray set up office in a room once called the fainting room, and she types for him while he works on a book about architecture. They soon discover common ground--a passion for hard-boiled detective stories--and Ingrid begins to construct her own fictional character, Detective Slade, a tough, observant character who comes to life as she tries to cope with her own uncertainties. Ray is disturbed by his increasing sexual attraction to Ingrid, and Ingrid's titillated by her feelings for Evelyn. An increasingly murky and uncomfortable tale, Strong's characters are complex and disturbing. Evelyn's past attempts to fit in with her circus family are as darkly amusing as her attempts to be the perfect homemaker. Ray's conventional upbringing, and his one early attempt at outright rebellion, contrasts well with Ingrid's character, so full of feelings of alienation and anger. A deliciously creepy and intense story.

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April 15, 2013

Ingrid, a 16-year-old temporarily homeless "punk," is invited for the summer to the home of Ray, a classy architect who always knows what wine to serve with dinner, and Evelyn, a former circus performer and "tattooed lady." Ray and Evelyn have a precarious marriage in which neither partner communicates real thoughts and feelings. Both are on the verge of a mental breakdown, and they invite Ingrid as a distraction. Ingrid ferrets out the couple's true feelings and insecurities by befriending them individually. She talks with Ray about architecture and pulp detective novels, even going so far as to write one of her own. Evelyn and Ingrid connect on a more juvenile level, drinking together and spending time at the arcade and carnival. VERDICT Part detective story, part mystery, Strong's second novel (after Burning the Sea) delivers complex, entertaining characters and will attract readers who enjoy genre-blending, cutting-edge fiction. In true detective/noir fashion, the novel is oversexed, but the character development is original and interesting.--Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL

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