Sophie Mackintosh's new novel, Permanence, is a speculative literary fiction that explores desire and infidelity through an allegorical lens. The story begins in an uncanny hotel where Clara wakes beside her lover, Francis. They soon find themselves in a parallel world designed for adulterous couples, a bourgeois paradise of cobbled streets, perpetual sunshine, and endless leisure. There is no way to leave, and no reason to—until they suddenly return to their real lives, where no time has passed.
The novel follows Clara and Francis as they oscillate between their ordinary existence and this alternate realm. In the fantasy world, mysterious injuries appear on their bodies when they hurt each other's feelings, and the paradise begins to decay. They run out of coins, must work in public gardens, and the soil turns poor. Yet, yearning for each other pulls them back repeatedly, even as the dream disintegrates.
Mackintosh's prose is often glassy and understated, which serves the uncanny atmosphere but sometimes leaves the reader wanting more sensory detail. The magic food is merely 'delicious', and the frequent sex is described in abstract terms. Earth and plants evoke the most concrete writing, but even then it remains oddly factual. The novel centres two unlikable characters, which is a bold choice, and the timeslips and allegory are inventive and convincing.
Overall, Permanence is a compelling fable about the nature of desire and the consequences of infidelity, though its muted prose may frustrate those seeking richer descriptions.
