unknown
March 26, 2026
Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh review
Unfaithful lovers escape to an uncanny alternate world, in this compelling allegory for infidelity and desire
TL;DR
- Permanence is Sophie Mackintosh's latest speculative fiction novel, focusing on desire and suffering.
- The story follows adulterous lovers Clara and Francis who find themselves in an uncanny hotel and then a parallel world offering a perpetual holiday.
- This fantasy world, initially a bourgeois paradise, becomes a prison as mysterious injuries appear and the environment degrades.
- The novel explores the nature of fantasy, infidelity, and the cyclical yearning that draws the lovers back to the disintegrating paradise.
- The reviewer praises the novel's concept and characters but desires more sensual prose to match the theme of pleasure.