A riveting, raw debut... Loyd brilliantly keeps us holding our breath as Celia's barriers disintegrate, her rules fall away, and the shield she holds so tightly over her heart slowly lowers... Stunningly rendered, acutely emotional REDBOOK (USA) For first-time novelist Amy Grace Loyd, an apartment building is not simply housing. It is also a metaphor for the paradoxical isolation and proximity we feel among others... With forceful, sensual prose (the author is captivated by the scents of people and places), Loyd allows Celia to discover that 'life had as many gains as losses as long as we were willing to tally them -- Amy Fine Collins O THE OPRAH MAGAZINE (USA) In this 50-shades-of-something novel, an apartment building's tenants are thrown for a loop when a new resident moves in MARIE CLAIRE (USA) [Loyd's] writing is rich and elegant, with elements of allusion and allegory and beguiling characters to draw readers in. Dark and sensual, with just a touch of suspense, this first novel offers a heartwrenchingly honest story about grief while still allowing for a glimmer of hope BOOKLIST (USA)

Amy Grace Loyd is an executive editor at BYLINER INC. and was the fiction and literary editor of PLAYBOY magazine for over six years until 2011. She has also worked in the NEW YORKER's fiction department and was associate editor on the NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS Classics series. She has been a MacDowell and Yaddo fellow. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.