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Having earned his master's degree in librarianship and in search of romance, Akey places an ad in the Village Voice: a shy, handsome twenty-four-year-old into literature and film seeks an attractive female with similar interests, who "must believe in love." On a sunny Saturday in April, Lucy hurries by the sundial in the middle of campus, briefly seeking out the writer of that ad, then prepares to leave. "Lucy?" he asks. Indeed, it is Lucy, and thus begins their story together.
This literary memoir chronicles love—its complexities, absurdities, and beauty. Sadly, it's also a story about falling out of love, at least on her part. Their relationship, spanning some twenty-three years, includes a hurried marriage inside the Municipal Building in Brooklyn, Lucy's battle with cancer, the birth of their son, Jonathan, and lives shared in their Park Slope neighborhood, where Akey writes and works at the public library. Lucy, a gifted artist, creates quilts (among other artistic endeavors) and gardens.
Akey is a gifted writer, a storyteller of the highest magnitude. His memoir narrates the life he and Lucy built together—imperfect yet gorgeous, complex, and romantic. Akey's intellectual, humorous composition details the ups and downs of their relationship, delivering an engaging narrative. The writing here is spectacular as the author bares his soul and heart tenderly and truthfully. Unashamedly human, their story involves a range of emotional experiences while painting a picture, however imperfect, of two lives shared—from the initial sundial meet-up to the eventual, heart-wrenching breakup. Yet, this remains a tale unapologetically celebrating love. As Akey concludes, "I firmly believe that being in love with another person and having that love reciprocated, however badly it may end, however briefly it may last, is the biggest, greatest, grandest thing that will ever happen to any of us."
RECOMMENDED by the US Review