The Affairs of Others

June 17, 2013
The former literary editor of Playboy makes her fiction debut with an intimate portrayal of the walls erected by a woman after her husband’s death, and how impulsive encounters with others break them down. Widowed five years earlier, Celia Cassill now clings to her isolation, allowing herself happiness only in memories of her marriage—books read, movies watched, bodies shared. She chose the tenants in her Brooklyn brownstone for their discretion and respect for “separateness.” When one of them moves to France, she reluctantly allows him to sublet his apartment to Hope, a beautiful, newly divorced, middle-aged woman recovering from her husband’s infidelity. Not long after Hope moves in, another of Celia’s tenants—a retired ferryboat captain—disappears, and his daughter holds Celia responsible. That messiness, as well as Hope’s spinning-out-of-control life, prove intolerable to Celia, who wanders the city in search of her missing tenant, listening in on the tawdry goings-on in Hope’s apartment, and recounting some of her actions during and after the death of her husband. Celia witnesses and participates in small acts of violence and sexual exploration, and her past and Hope’s present force down Celia’s walls. Lloyd’s character study is narrow in scope but long on intensity and emotion. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins and Associates.

March 15, 2013
A sensitive but too understated portrayal of widowhood as experienced by a "young or youngish woman"--and, in a way, the building she inhabits. Celia is in her late 30s and, as former Playboy literary editor Loyd writes, not quite sure of herself in the world. Fortunately, her late husband prepared her for a time without him and, more important, left her with sufficient funds that she could buy a modest apartment building in Brooklyn and rent out three spaces. Being a property owner and landlord offers Celia an opportunity to channel her energies into bringing a badly mistreated building back to life, godlike: "What I could not restore, I replicated; what I could not replicate, I left simple but clean." Life, of course, is not so easily controlled, nor are the titular "affairs of others." Woven into the story are other deaths, as well as the brooding fact of 9/11 and the "varieties and degrees of trauma felt...even in the sidewalks." Yet this is no Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, nothing eccentric or, sad to say, particularly memorable. Like a neat apartment, Loyd's story hasn't an element out of place; she writes expertly, without wasted words. Yet the affect is curiously flat: Celia is matter-of-fact and, it seems, scarcely involved in the heart of her own story; only the supporting players seem to feel much of anything, including, in a nicely written turn, anguish over the plight of the polar bears. As a result, the feel of the book overall is more memoir than novel and even then, a memoir that is merely reporting the facts. More emotional investment would have given this story, competent though it is, more life.

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August 1, 2013

Celia Cassill is still in mourning for her young husband, who died five years earlier after a grueling illness. Fortunately, he left enough money for her to buy a small apartment building in Brooklyn. But even though she is doing all right financially, Celia is isolated and withdrawn. Now she finds herself pulled into the problems of her tenants. One glamorous middle-aged woman, whose husband recently left her for another woman, has begun a disturbing (and noisy) affair with an unsavory new boyfriend. A young couple down the hall has marital problems. And an old retired ferryboat captain, the most down-to-earth tenant in the building, has suddenly gone missing, and his daughter angrily blames Celia. The affairs of these neighbors draw Celia back into an emotional involvement with life, in all its messiness. VERDICT This first novel by Brooklyn-based Loyd, a former fiction and literary editor at Playboy, is a sophisticated, sympathetic, and beautifully written portrayal of contemporary individuals who come to share more than just an apartment building. [See Prepub Alert, 4/1/13.]--Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013
Young widow Celia is still caught in the throes of grieving five years after the loss of her husband. She keeps a small rental unit in Brooklyn, where she puts a premium on privacy, choosing tenants who are sure to keep mostly to themselves. When one of them asks to be allowed to sublet, though, she reluctantly agrees, and Hope moves in for the summer. Though full of a vibrancy that belies her inner sorrow, Hope is suffering a loss of her own, and her slide into depression opens deep wounds that Celia had been keeping safely hidden. Finally forced to face the pain of her past, Celia takes an unexpected strength from Hope's companionship and begins a journey that will lead her to either self-destruction or deliverance. Loyd is an executive editor at Byliner, and her writing is rich and elegant, with elements of allusion and allegory and beguiling characters to draw readers in. Dark and sensual, with just a touch of suspense, this first novel offers a heartwrenchingly honest story about grief while still allowing for a glimmer of hope.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)