It occurred to me that I should probably tell people what this book I’m writing is about. So here’s a synopsis:<\/p>\n
A middle-aged divorcee living in London meets Katya, an intriguing Russian-American woman some eight years his junior on a popular online dating site.\u00a0With her facial piercings, bohemian style, and artsy outlook\u00a0she is not his usual type but the two get along fabulously well and soon\u00a0they are embarked on what promises to be a healthy, long-term relationship.<\/p>\n
Then one morning, after a romantic night\u00a0together, Katya reveals a secret about her past which destroys all his\u00a0assumptions and makes him realise\u00a0that he doesn’t know this woman at all. Only\u00a0he is hopelessly in love, and so instead of leaving he decides to stay with her in the hope her past is behind her and there are no more secrets to be revealed. But the more he learns about Katya the more questions are raised: why did she divorce her husband back in New York? Why is she so drawn to the Burning Man festival that takes place each year in Nevada’s Black Rock desert? And why is she with him in the first place?<\/p>\n
In an effort to find out he accompanies her\u00a0to Brooklyn and enters the world which has shaped her life since she fled Moscow and her estranged family a decade before. What he discovers forces him to confront his own weaknesses and insecurities and question just how far he is willing to go in accepting Katya once the truth is known.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The book is written in the first person and is set\u00a0on the Eurostar between Paris and London where the protagonist is recounting his experience\u00a0to some friends, a married couple, he met by chance at Gare du Nord. The actual story takes place in London, moves to New York, and then comes back to London with a brief visit to Vilnius somewhere in the middle.<\/p>\n
The themes that are touched on are, to varying degrees (I can’t list all of them because of spoilers): the middle-age dating scene for men, online dating, what men expect from romantic partners\u00a0in middle-age, the difference in mindset between men in their twenties and middle-aged men vis-a-vis romantic relations, women’s sexual history and how men view them, Russian women and other aspects of Russia, third-wave feminism (and its effect on young women), drug use, sex, artsy types, Burning Man, Brooklyn’s arts scene, and the general interaction between a man and a woman from very different worlds when they attempt to form a relationship.<\/p>\n
I appreciate it might not be everybody’s cup of tea but I wrote it mainly because I reckoned I had a complete story with this one, and that’s half the battle. I’ve kept it as realistic as possible in the hope that people – both men and women – will be able to relate to the characters and situations, or at least find it interesting. I am confident that I am saying something different, stuff that hasn’t been put into writing before, at least not in novel format. I’m also confident that the story is interesting enough and my writing is good enough that people will like it.<\/p>\n
Only one way to find out, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It occurred to me that I should probably tell people what this book I’m writing is about. So here’s a synopsis: A middle-aged divorcee living in London meets Katya, an intriguing Russian-American woman some eight years his junior on a … Continue reading