A Brief Affair (Alex Miller, A&U)

A Brief Affair is contemporary fiction by multi–award winning author Alex Miller. The novel follows a moment in the life of Frances Egan, a woman who lives in regional Victoria with her family and is working on a university professorship. We spend a lot of time in Frances’s internal world, where we become privy to her one-time affair and her disillusionment about academia. The building Frances works in is a converted asylum and she spends her days in cell 16, previously home to inmate Valerie Sommers from 1957 to 1962. Valerie’s diary makes its way into Frances’s hands and through it we learn some details of asylum life. Frances becomes obsessed with the diary and feels that her possession of it is serendipitous. Although, for the significance that the diary brings to Frances’s life, the reader is trusted with very little of its contents—much of the novel is devoted to detailed descriptions of Frances’ inner world and her day-to-day existence. Miller’s writing is careful and well thought out; there is, however, not a lot of differentiation between the narration and the dialogue, meaning the book has a one-note feel to it. The two drivers of the story, Valerie’s diary and Frances’s brief affair, are overwhelmed by the amount of detail given to the minutiae of the protagonist’s daily life. A Brief Affair is classic commercial fiction for readers who like gentle mysteries and intimate character studies.

Danielle Bagnato is a book reviewer and marketing and communications professional.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews