Clara and Francis are lovers, partners in a spectacularly ardent adultery. No strangers to the pleasure of an anonymous hotel room, they go to great lengths to conceal their affair from Francis’s wife and young daughter. One day, the hotel room they wake up in is unfamiliar to them both and they have no recollection of arriving there. In Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh, we’re spirited away to a paradisal parallel world of endless blue skies and aphrodisia, populated entirely by adulterers. Here, Clara and Francis can celebrate their love openly. Is this freedom at last or an uncanny case of be careful what you wish for?
Clara had first met Francis eighteen months before in a museum. Older than her, with a hint of the silver fox about him, he’d made her feel light-headed, the first touch of his hand delivering the cool metal warning of his wedding ring. Since then, Clara has learned a few things, this affair has compressed her life into moments of vivid intensity, with the rest a muted, patient waiting for Francis to leave his wife.
And now, here they are, discombobulated new arrivals to the City of Impermanence. As they explore their unexpected surroundings (squares, fountains and alfresco dining in the elegant manner of continental Europe, smitten couples strolling arm in arm), it all seems so impossibly beautiful and validating. Their relationship, previously witnessed only by themselves, a succession of ‘snatched or conjured’ hours, is now made real.
‘They existed. It was her belief made manifest.’
One of a gifted clutch of writers chosen for the Granta Best Young British Novelists list, Mackintosh is a mesmerising and distinctive voice. In her allegorical exploration of the intricacies of infidelity, she conjures an initial dream-like love bubble for Clara and Francis, but as time passes, clouds begin brewing on the horizon, both literally and metaphorically.
Now that the couple are with each other constantly, there is no room for fantasy, and as Francis observes, it’s no longer sustainable to be on one’s best behaviour. He misses his wife and the image of his daughter is ‘imprinted on his mind like an accusation.’
Strangely, if the couple attempt to spend time apart, they’re gripped with actual physical pain. And something else, tiny wounds that open up on the skin after hurtful words or actions. The city is beginning to reflect this growing disquiet, which manifests itself in their surroundings, a widening crack in their bedroom ceiling, an empty crisp packet blowing forlornly across a previously pristine square, a prematurely wilting bunch of yellow roses. Clara believes that the city has its own agenda and they are being tested in some unfathomable way.
As suddenly as it has summoned the couple, it can expel them too,
A brilliantly inventive and bittersweet tale. If you like this, see also our review of Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh.
Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh is published by Hamish Hamilton, 256 pages.
