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The Perfect Affair
What happens if you fall in love with the wrong person? Rose knows only too well the exhilaration and devastation of loving a married man. So she watches with a keen eye as Eve - her closest companion, the granddaughter she never had - meets Myles, the new tenant in her downstairs flat. Quietly and softly and against the backdrop of their own unsatisfactory marriages, Myles and Eve fall in love and, as they try to have the perfect affair like Rose did before them, they come to learn about the pain of lost opportunities, to decide whether it is ever better to follow your head or your heart, to know what it is to be torn between love and duty.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 2014
1 person is currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
Claire Dyer
18 books32 followersAuthor and poet. My literary thriller 'The Significant Others of Odie May' is out July 2021.
Please be aware that messages on Goodreads are not checked regularly but I'm on Twitter as @ClaireDyer1 so please get in touch with me there and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.
Please be aware that messages on Goodreads are not checked regularly but I'm on Twitter as @ClaireDyer1 so please get in touch with me there and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 17, 2020
I have a lot to say about this book so bare with me.
This is the story of Myles and Eve.
Eve is married to Andrew and they have a seventeen ish year old daughter together. Eve is a dowdy run down wife who feels hard done by because her husband goes to the pub frequently and doesn't invite her. Yes I'm eye rolling too, you would think after all those years together she would invite herself no?
Myles is married to Celeste, a power hungry woman with a fabulous career which enables her to travel the world. They have three sons, a dog, a nanny. Myles is a dowdy run down husband who feels hard done by because his wife has a task list that doesnt involve cooking his tea.
Eve and Myles meet and have the most uninspiring affair ever. There is no racing heart beats, there are however hearts that beat so slowly they die. There is no passion filled sex against walls, there is one snooze fest in the missionary position that I'm sure no one raised a sweat over.
There is a saying, why go out for a hamburger when you have a steak at home. This is the story of two burgers, married to burgers and had an affair with another burger.
The most baffling moment was the 'to grieve is to have loved as the Queen said after Diana's death'. Now, I'm a royalist but I know that anything the Queen said after the death of Lady Di should not be quoted in a scene of love. I'm eye rolling again.
To sum up, If you're going to write romance, especially about an affair, you need to sell it to me, it needs to be steamy, passionate and it needs to have high stakes. To leave a burger for another burger is hardly of consequence.
This is the story of Myles and Eve.
Eve is married to Andrew and they have a seventeen ish year old daughter together. Eve is a dowdy run down wife who feels hard done by because her husband goes to the pub frequently and doesn't invite her. Yes I'm eye rolling too, you would think after all those years together she would invite herself no?
Myles is married to Celeste, a power hungry woman with a fabulous career which enables her to travel the world. They have three sons, a dog, a nanny. Myles is a dowdy run down husband who feels hard done by because his wife has a task list that doesnt involve cooking his tea.
Eve and Myles meet and have the most uninspiring affair ever. There is no racing heart beats, there are however hearts that beat so slowly they die. There is no passion filled sex against walls, there is one snooze fest in the missionary position that I'm sure no one raised a sweat over.
There is a saying, why go out for a hamburger when you have a steak at home. This is the story of two burgers, married to burgers and had an affair with another burger.
The most baffling moment was the 'to grieve is to have loved as the Queen said after Diana's death'. Now, I'm a royalist but I know that anything the Queen said after the death of Lady Di should not be quoted in a scene of love. I'm eye rolling again.
To sum up, If you're going to write romance, especially about an affair, you need to sell it to me, it needs to be steamy, passionate and it needs to have high stakes. To leave a burger for another burger is hardly of consequence.
June 12, 2018
We meet the elderly Rose serving tea to Eve in a flat, renovated from the home that she’d shared with her parents. Her father’s coat still hangs on the back door. As Rose leaves to retire upstairs, she knows what is going to happen, it has been foreshadowed for a year when Eve and the man who rents part of her home, Myles first met. Rose knows that look…
This is a beautifully written novel, full of emotion but also accurately capturing the essence of an affair, or two.
The two stories, that of Rose and Henry in the past, and the one that is being conducted in the here and now between Eve and author Myles are both engaging. In case you are mislead neither affair is full of heaving bodies, the beauty is in their snatched moments of forbidden love of (for the most part) more cerebral kind.
In the 60s Rose shared a flat with Eve’s Grandmother Verity and relishing her single life meets Henry at work. The description of dresses, that Rose keeps into her old age along with a box full of memories are for the future, now life is for living but will her love of Henry win the day?
In the present Eve’s marriage to Andrew has become distant and to make matters worse she is facing their daughter leaving home to start her life as an independent adult. In short, in common with many women of her age, life is changing and Eve begins to examine what she has. When she meets crime writer Myles on a visit to see her old friend Rose, a spark is lit. But, the same question is raised, will the pair end up together, or apart? What was particularly enjoyable about this story is that the past was seamlessly woven with the present as Rose looked back on her life while watching over Eve in the present. This avoided the sometimes jarring quality of switching between time periods that can occur in the hands of a lesser writer.
The scenes where Myles struggles with his detective series lifted the book. It’s just how I imagine it – shall we have a dog walker finding the body? What will forensics turn up? All interspersed with Myles, not thinking fondly about his controlled wife Celeste, or his two sons but about the woman who he is falling in love with. As is inevitable if the reader is going to fully engage with the affairs, their marriages are not painted in a particularly flattering light, but nor are they painted so blackly that the reader is left thinking that no one would have remained in such a marriage.
The writing is brilliant and almost lyrical without being too ‘poncy.’ With a realistic look at two very different affairs, separated by years and circumstances, this book had me entranced. So even though romantic novels are far from my usual kind of reading fare, there was more than enough depth to this one to entirely hold my attention. I have to admit in many ways I found Rose’s story the more poignant of the two because there is the realisation of what discovery would mean for a young woman in that era and what it could mean for her future. As for Eve I will just say that my views were in accordance with Rose’s.
This is the 19th book I’ve read and reviewed as part of my Mount TBR Challenge for 2018. I am aiming to read 36 books across the year from those purchased before 1 January 2018. The Perfect Affair was purchased on 29 March 2014 and so fully qualifies.
This is a beautifully written novel, full of emotion but also accurately capturing the essence of an affair, or two.
The two stories, that of Rose and Henry in the past, and the one that is being conducted in the here and now between Eve and author Myles are both engaging. In case you are mislead neither affair is full of heaving bodies, the beauty is in their snatched moments of forbidden love of (for the most part) more cerebral kind.
In the 60s Rose shared a flat with Eve’s Grandmother Verity and relishing her single life meets Henry at work. The description of dresses, that Rose keeps into her old age along with a box full of memories are for the future, now life is for living but will her love of Henry win the day?
In the present Eve’s marriage to Andrew has become distant and to make matters worse she is facing their daughter leaving home to start her life as an independent adult. In short, in common with many women of her age, life is changing and Eve begins to examine what she has. When she meets crime writer Myles on a visit to see her old friend Rose, a spark is lit. But, the same question is raised, will the pair end up together, or apart? What was particularly enjoyable about this story is that the past was seamlessly woven with the present as Rose looked back on her life while watching over Eve in the present. This avoided the sometimes jarring quality of switching between time periods that can occur in the hands of a lesser writer.
The scenes where Myles struggles with his detective series lifted the book. It’s just how I imagine it – shall we have a dog walker finding the body? What will forensics turn up? All interspersed with Myles, not thinking fondly about his controlled wife Celeste, or his two sons but about the woman who he is falling in love with. As is inevitable if the reader is going to fully engage with the affairs, their marriages are not painted in a particularly flattering light, but nor are they painted so blackly that the reader is left thinking that no one would have remained in such a marriage.
The writing is brilliant and almost lyrical without being too ‘poncy.’ With a realistic look at two very different affairs, separated by years and circumstances, this book had me entranced. So even though romantic novels are far from my usual kind of reading fare, there was more than enough depth to this one to entirely hold my attention. I have to admit in many ways I found Rose’s story the more poignant of the two because there is the realisation of what discovery would mean for a young woman in that era and what it could mean for her future. As for Eve I will just say that my views were in accordance with Rose’s.
This is the 19th book I’ve read and reviewed as part of my Mount TBR Challenge for 2018. I am aiming to read 36 books across the year from those purchased before 1 January 2018. The Perfect Affair was purchased on 29 March 2014 and so fully qualifies.
October 4, 2014
In the time it took to reach the end of the first page of The Perfect Affair, I knew that I was reading a story I always wanted to read. By the time I got to the end of the first chapter, I was completely enamoured by the story of Eve and Myles. And as the story progressed, I shared their dilemma; I rejoiced in their obvious delight in each other and empathised with their overwhelming fear that what they felt was somehow lessened because of circumstances. The parallel affair between Rose and Henry is interwoven into the story with consummate ease and is no less powerful for being told in a series of flashbacks. The transition between the time frames is flawless, the prose is lyrical, almost poetic in places, and the development of the characters with all their faults and foibles is achieved in a sympathetic and non-judgemental way.
It would be easy to say that writers of words make stories but they don’t, not really, as anyone can string words together, but words only become stories in the hands of a true storyteller. Only a magician of words can take and mould a story into something special and believable and only a talented writer can take a story, a set of characters and make the reader believe what they are reading.
That lovely phrase about fairies springs to mind...if you believe in fairies, clap your hands...well, here’s a new one, if you believe in storytellers, read this book.
August 6, 2016
I was given a copy (print) of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When I started this story I was prepared to read about an affair of some kind….what I was not prepared for was such a deep story, not to mention a story that extends much further than what the title suggests, an affair. This is a beautifully written story that stems through two generations, sometimes stepping back in time to a different time in life, but more importantly a story written of true love.
I truly wasn’t sure I would like the story, but the more I read, the more I loved it! It was endearing to read about how meeting one person can truly change your whole life. But also how so many of us go about our lives not seeking to do things that we love because of a need to fulfill commitment- commitment which can sometimes strangle the very life out of you.
This was a well written story of love. It not only tells a long ago story of Rose and Henry, but also the story of two unhappy people finding happiness and love in the strangest of places. I truly enjoyed reading both stories and loved how the book goes back in time to when Rose was younger.
The ending was a surprise to me, but I loved it at as well!
When I started this story I was prepared to read about an affair of some kind….what I was not prepared for was such a deep story, not to mention a story that extends much further than what the title suggests, an affair. This is a beautifully written story that stems through two generations, sometimes stepping back in time to a different time in life, but more importantly a story written of true love.
I truly wasn’t sure I would like the story, but the more I read, the more I loved it! It was endearing to read about how meeting one person can truly change your whole life. But also how so many of us go about our lives not seeking to do things that we love because of a need to fulfill commitment- commitment which can sometimes strangle the very life out of you.
This was a well written story of love. It not only tells a long ago story of Rose and Henry, but also the story of two unhappy people finding happiness and love in the strangest of places. I truly enjoyed reading both stories and loved how the book goes back in time to when Rose was younger.
The ending was a surprise to me, but I loved it at as well!
August 11, 2016
I received a free copy through Goodreads Firstreads giveaway, so thank you very much! A beautifully written story centered around two affairs. What happens when we realise we no longer love the person we married? What do we do if the person we fall in love with is also married? This book certainly challenged my views on adultery, by looking at the decisions we make and facing their consequences. I certainly had empathy for Rose and Eve, but I think neither party communicated enough with their wives/husbands before starting the affair...it all seemed to 'perfect' for me. The cheating spouses just seemed to justify their affairs rather too easily, they were wronged, not appreciated and not loved..so that makes it ok. It takes two to save a relationship and neither seemed to want to make the effort.
Taking that bold step to completely change your life was very inspirational to me and I loved that part of the character development. Do we settle for what we have or strive for something that could cause heartbreak and loss to find true happiness? It's not very often a book has such an emotional affect on me and I would certainly recommend it.
Taking that bold step to completely change your life was very inspirational to me and I loved that part of the character development. Do we settle for what we have or strive for something that could cause heartbreak and loss to find true happiness? It's not very often a book has such an emotional affect on me and I would certainly recommend it.
April 6, 2014
I received a free copy through Goodreads Firstreads giveaway. Many thanks!
I loved this book. It's beautifully written, very restrained and full of longing. Two love affairs set in different times where they meet the right person too late and previous commitments create dilemmas. Gorgeous.
I loved this book. It's beautifully written, very restrained and full of longing. Two love affairs set in different times where they meet the right person too late and previous commitments create dilemmas. Gorgeous.
August 4, 2018
The title of this book said exactly what to expect from the novel, only it had subtle twists and was so beautifully written - it did not disappoint. I love character led novels such as this, and I was drawn into each character who was beautifully portrayed for me to see. The ending was rather abrupt and neatly tied-up in my view, hence giving 4 stars out of 5.
Rose is an elderly yet beautiful and wise woman and through her, Eve and Myles meet and the momentum of being initially introduced and attracted to one another sets a ball in motion that neither is able to control, much like Rose and a lover in her youth.
The parallels between the current affair and that of Rose are beautifully written and I was willing only goodness to blossom in each case. As I don't like writing spoiler reviews, you'll have to read it yourself - and I totally recommend you do.
Rose is an elderly yet beautiful and wise woman and through her, Eve and Myles meet and the momentum of being initially introduced and attracted to one another sets a ball in motion that neither is able to control, much like Rose and a lover in her youth.
The parallels between the current affair and that of Rose are beautifully written and I was willing only goodness to blossom in each case. As I don't like writing spoiler reviews, you'll have to read it yourself - and I totally recommend you do.
July 30, 2017
What a BRILLIANT story. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale.... I don't usually review books - but I simply had to review this.
What a BRILLIANT story! I don't usually review the books I read, but I simply had to review this one.
What a BRILLIANT story! I don't usually review the books I read, but I simply had to review this one.
March 31, 2014
I received a copy of this novel through Goodreads Firstreads in exchange for an honest review, so thank you to Quercus. As The Perfect Affair opens, the elderly Rose finishes making tea and decides to retired upstairs, leaving Eve and Myles alone. They know that she is aware of what is between them, as the opening line proclaims, 'when it happens, it is, of course, inevitable, as it had been since that moment their hands touched the summer before'. Both Myles and Eve are married, they have other commitments and yet there is a sense that what they are doing is 'right', that it is meant to be, that their love will be different. That they will have the perfect affair.
This novel has been compared to One Day, which is naturally something that Quercus emphasised in the publicity materials. It is not in the same league as that, but it is a lovely book just the same. I have an automatic aversion to novels concerning adultery, I never like it when cheating spouses blame their infidelities on their stalwart partners, as if it is the fault of their steadiness, that they were simply too 'boring' for someone to truly forsake all others. So, I was impressed that in this case, I did feel sympathetic for Eve and Myles, for Rose and Henry and for anyone who ever had that feeling that they might just have fallen in love with the wrong person.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspo...
This novel has been compared to One Day, which is naturally something that Quercus emphasised in the publicity materials. It is not in the same league as that, but it is a lovely book just the same. I have an automatic aversion to novels concerning adultery, I never like it when cheating spouses blame their infidelities on their stalwart partners, as if it is the fault of their steadiness, that they were simply too 'boring' for someone to truly forsake all others. So, I was impressed that in this case, I did feel sympathetic for Eve and Myles, for Rose and Henry and for anyone who ever had that feeling that they might just have fallen in love with the wrong person.
For my full review:
http://girlwithherheadinabook.blogspo...
July 22, 2016
Beautifully written.
Soon as The Perfect Affair landed on my door mat I could not wait to start reading it. I picked the paperback up straight away and started to read it and found it very hard to put the novel down.The Perfect Affair centres around three main characters and their families. Claire has a real gift to make all the characters like real people that we would know. Rose split her house into two flats. She lived in the upstairs flat and rented the downstairs flat to a crime writer Myles so he could write in peace and quite away from his family. Rose has secrets from her past that are lodged deep in her heart but Rose does not tell Eve all her secrets. Eve is married and visits her Rose a lot when she falls in love with Myles at the very sight of him. Eve and Myles who are both married find them selves pulling towards each other and start having an affair. The story is very convincing that holds heartbreak and loss. The perfect Affair is like most of affairs rife with the spice of danger that all women will want to read.The Moment is Claire Dyer's next novel which I can not wait to read.
Soon as The Perfect Affair landed on my door mat I could not wait to start reading it. I picked the paperback up straight away and started to read it and found it very hard to put the novel down.The Perfect Affair centres around three main characters and their families. Claire has a real gift to make all the characters like real people that we would know. Rose split her house into two flats. She lived in the upstairs flat and rented the downstairs flat to a crime writer Myles so he could write in peace and quite away from his family. Rose has secrets from her past that are lodged deep in her heart but Rose does not tell Eve all her secrets. Eve is married and visits her Rose a lot when she falls in love with Myles at the very sight of him. Eve and Myles who are both married find them selves pulling towards each other and start having an affair. The story is very convincing that holds heartbreak and loss. The perfect Affair is like most of affairs rife with the spice of danger that all women will want to read.The Moment is Claire Dyer's next novel which I can not wait to read.
October 10, 2014
The Perfect Affair is in many ways the perfect novel. The characters are beautifully drawn and that makes it easy to step into their world. Once you have, you don't want to leave it. Claire Dyer captures the heady breathlessness of forbidden love in a way which is as far removed from the instant gratification of Fifty Shades and its ilk as it is possible to be. On top of this she blends her contemporary storyline with Rose's memories of the 1950s. Neither denouement is rushed and although I felt sad to finish the book, I was not left hungry for more because it ended at precisely the right moment. Give yourself a treat and read it.
August 17, 2016
This is one of those books where the characters stayed with me, while I was not reading it and long after I'd finished it. The style of writing is lyrical but not high brow. The characters are well-formed and believable. I enjoyed the real location setting of Reading in Berkshire, as it is a town I know.
Whatever your view on affairs, they do happen, and this story is sympathetically told without any sensationalism or lack of respect for third parties who might be affected.
The story of Rose, the elderly friend, was particularly moving, and formed an essential strand to the main story.
If you want to be swept up a love story, try this.
Whatever your view on affairs, they do happen, and this story is sympathetically told without any sensationalism or lack of respect for third parties who might be affected.
The story of Rose, the elderly friend, was particularly moving, and formed an essential strand to the main story.
If you want to be swept up a love story, try this.
August 10, 2016
Won this on Goodreads!
A beautiful story about impossible love. Eve has grown apart from her husband, Andrew, who seems more interested in his music; Myles barely sees his career focused wife, Celeste, who cares very little for his writing "hobby". Myles and Eve have an instant spark and are watched over by Eve's close friend, Rose, who has her own story of impossible but exquisite love.
This is an excellently written novel, which eloquently describes the progression of love as well as the emotions of doing what is right and to not live with the regret of what could have been.
A beautiful story about impossible love. Eve has grown apart from her husband, Andrew, who seems more interested in his music; Myles barely sees his career focused wife, Celeste, who cares very little for his writing "hobby". Myles and Eve have an instant spark and are watched over by Eve's close friend, Rose, who has her own story of impossible but exquisite love.
This is an excellently written novel, which eloquently describes the progression of love as well as the emotions of doing what is right and to not live with the regret of what could have been.
February 19, 2015
A very understated but well-written story of two women from different generations falling in love with married men. I liked how the stories interwove and echoed and differed from one another. Found myself comparing this unfavourably, and unfairly, with the emotional wringer of an affair story The Bridges of Madison County. I liked the structure and ordinariness of the characters here, but perhaps their lack of humour, colour, passion resulted in my own lukewarm response.
July 21, 2021
I had searched for nearly 2 years before I was finally able to lay my hands on this book.
As the tittle suggests, it truly is perfect!!
The initial chapters are slow and the story builds up at a snail’s gait however after you’re through with the first 50 pages, the book reaches another level and picks up its pace and embarks on a story that is hard to put down!!
Two stories, impeccably entwined, this is beyond beautiful. A must read for all the romance fanatics out there!!
As the tittle suggests, it truly is perfect!!
The initial chapters are slow and the story builds up at a snail’s gait however after you’re through with the first 50 pages, the book reaches another level and picks up its pace and embarks on a story that is hard to put down!!
Two stories, impeccably entwined, this is beyond beautiful. A must read for all the romance fanatics out there!!
June 18, 2014
I bought the novel in Paris and the second I got on the plane back to the US -returning home, I couldn't stop reading it. Loving the style the author used to tell her story. It's a must read. A good recommend for anyone realizing who they married isn't the person they should be with or should they? A typical tale, well written and engaging.
June 3, 2014
I received a free copy through Goodreads Firstreads giveaway. A big thank you! I LOVE this book. This is beautifully written, very reticent and full of longing. We have two love affairs set in two separate times where they happen to meet the right person too late and the prior responsibilities they each have create dilemmas. Fabulous read.
April 27, 2014
I love the style of this book, not sure what I was expecting but it was a beautifully written piece of work, haunting and unforgettable, not read anything else by this author, so I may be disappointed if I do, stunning read.
May 2, 2014
I guess I'm more of a cynic than romantic... The marital indiscretions in these stories are just not justified by the "electrical" love (lust?) at first sight between the transgressors. I wasn't convinced and only modestly entertained by this predictable story.
July 30, 2015
A searing look at the complications caused by a love you can't have. I loved it.
April 26, 2017
This is a deceptive read. It is a meandering tale of two love affairs - one today, one in the Sixties - which unfolds slowly, step-by-step, as these things do in life. ‘The Perfect Affair ‘by Claire Dyer is about love, how it appears and grows, and how it fades.
Rose has divided her house into two flats, she lives upstairs and rents the downstairs space to Myles, a writer of detective novels. Rose’s regular visitor, Eve, is like the grand-daughter she never had, and is a connection to Rose’s past. In the Sixties, Rose shared a house with Eve’s grandmother Verity. One day Eve and Myles meet. There is a spark of attraction which shocks them both and makes each examine the state of their own marriage. As they come to terms with what this means, Rose watches from afar. In love and seeking the perfect love affair, Rose remembers when she fell in love in the Sixties. Finally a decision must be made.
Dyer writes with a gentle hand, small details showing her understanding of the emotions involved. After meeting Eve for the first time, Myles is disorientated: ‘He’d been OK when he’d left home earlier but now he feels mostly unsettled, as though a fault line has positioned itself under his feet and he knows it’s there and it knows it’s there too.’ Alongside the sense of inevitability, danger lurks. An emotional novel, skilfully written.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...
Rose has divided her house into two flats, she lives upstairs and rents the downstairs space to Myles, a writer of detective novels. Rose’s regular visitor, Eve, is like the grand-daughter she never had, and is a connection to Rose’s past. In the Sixties, Rose shared a house with Eve’s grandmother Verity. One day Eve and Myles meet. There is a spark of attraction which shocks them both and makes each examine the state of their own marriage. As they come to terms with what this means, Rose watches from afar. In love and seeking the perfect love affair, Rose remembers when she fell in love in the Sixties. Finally a decision must be made.
Dyer writes with a gentle hand, small details showing her understanding of the emotions involved. After meeting Eve for the first time, Myles is disorientated: ‘He’d been OK when he’d left home earlier but now he feels mostly unsettled, as though a fault line has positioned itself under his feet and he knows it’s there and it knows it’s there too.’ Alongside the sense of inevitability, danger lurks. An emotional novel, skilfully written.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-revie...
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews