Permission

Vogel’s short but searching debut novel plunges below the physical aspects of BDSM relationships to revel in her characters’ emotional longing. Echo has spent her life afraid of breaking down, isolated by her feuding parents, and unsure of herself. She uses her acting career to hide from herself and the world. When her father is swept away by an ocean current and drowns, Echo loses her sense of self entirely. The only person capable of making her feel alive and present is her neighbor Orly, a professional dominatrix who works out of her suburban home and tutors Echo in the art of dominance. Orly’s older houseboy, nicknamed Piggy, sees through Echo’s attempts to lose herself in Orly’s work and helps Echo find the courage to embrace all she feels and desires. Vogel’s prose elegantly frames this study of embodied feminine sexual power at the expense of the plot, which feels hurried and unfulfilling. Though not entirely engaging, this daring and thoughtful study of love, loss, and pain rewards the patient reader. (May)