A Narrowing Path

Animal Affinities #1

by Angélique Jamail

Elsa has felt awkward and out of her depth for as long as she can remember. In a world where one's Animal Affinity is a sign of maturity and worth, Elsa's inability to demonstrate hers has become more than a disappointing nuisance; it's a narrowing path.

Obscured behind the curtain of society's disdain, she has no confidence that she'll ever conquer her Plainness. Frustrated by her failure to fit into their picture-perfect life, Elsa's family grows more intolerant of her by the week. Her boss, a seven-foot-tall rage demon, is one clawed step away from setting loose his temper and firing her-or worse.

And on top of all that, her cat wants to eat her. Things could be better. But that's not the direction they're heading.

A violent gang of wolves prowls the streets of Elsa's neighborhood, harassing Plain Ones. With the pack's presence becoming stronger and its threat more real, Elsa's life is rapidly plummeting from lackluster to perilous.

Her only bright spots are her cousin and a co-worker who seem to know her better than she knows herself. But even though they can see through to what society won't, will that be enough to protect Elsa from making a drastic choice? In her desperation to shed her Plainness, how far will she go to evolve?

94 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2025

About the author

Angélique Jamail is a Lebanese-American author whose poetry, short fiction, and essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, including Synkroniciti, Equinox, New Reader Magazine, Waxwing, The Milk of Female Kindness, Femmeliterate, Literary Mama, and others, and her poetry has been featured on the radio. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net (for essay), has been a finalist for the New Letters Prize in Poetry, and has won various essay contests. The first time she read one of her stories to an audience was fourth grade; it was a character-building experience. Her novelette Finis. (Odeon Press), first published in 2014, has been praised by fiction writer Ari Marmell as having “some of the most real people I’ve encountered via text in a long time,” and by poet Marie Marshall as “a witty tale of conformity, prejudice, and transformation, in a world that is disturbing as much for its familiarity as for its strangeness.” Her poetry collection The Sharp Edges of Water came out in 2018, and Homecoming, a standalone follow-up to Finis., in 2020, both from Odeon Press. Her novella A Narrowing Path will be published by Memento Vivere Press in 2025. She is the Creative Writing Director at The Kinkaid School in Houston and began serving on the Board of Directors for Mutabilis Press in December 2019. She’s also the creator of the popular zine Sonic Chihuahua. Find her online at her blog Sappho’s Torque and on social media.

website: www.AngeliqueJamail.com
blog: www.SapphosTorque.com

IG: angeliquejamail
Facebook: Angélique Jamail, Author
BlueSky: @angeliquejamail.bsky.social

Reviews

[Trilla Pando · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a little girl decades ago, I loved a book with a heroine about my age named Elsa who had many adventures as she kept a serious secret. The red clad book is still on my shelf, and, yes, sometimes I still go back and read it again.
Good news! I have a new Elsa and she too has issues that she must keep to herself. She is my new grown-up Elsa. I love her too.

What a person. She has only two real friends in her life, her cousin Gerard and Lois at work. Her parents clearly prefer her older sister with the perfect family; her cat would rather bite her than purr; even her landlord threatens eviction. But the story with touches of magical realism unfolds along the narrow path and Elsa finds a way to the life she has been looking for. Hooray!
This book is in Angelique Jamail’s series on ‘Animal Affinities’ and it provided me with a great introduction to the concept. I’m looking forward to reading some more novellas in the series, and I entertain the hope that perhaps there will be a sequel to this one—I want to know how things are going for my new Elsa.

Meanwhile, Elsa will always have a room at my house and a place in my heart—and on my shelf.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novella and following the protagonist’s arc from a bullied, downtrodden “Plain One” to something more—we get to see her come in to herself in a way that should resonate with many people who have felt othered and out of place in the world. The conclusion of her story (no spoilers) was very satisfying. The magical realism of the story is never heavy-handed, allowing the reader to become fully absorbed in this world that looks almost like ours, but not quite. Definitely recommend!

[Gratien Myles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanna see this on screen! Very good, can't wait for the next one.

[Laurinda Lind · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in one day, while waiting for an at-risk grandchild's birth at a medical center (mother and baby came through fine). Auspiciously, I found the story ran on a similar trajectory. The storytelling elements in this slim fantasy novel are confident and well-paced. A second, expanded edition in Jamail’s Animal Affinities series, it is a narrative about Elsa, a young woman who is a Plain One in a world where people hope they will develop secondary animal attributes during their lives. If they don't, they are seen as pitiable.
The Animal Affinities idea brings to mind Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, where everyone is fancy since all people have “daemons”-- animal aspects born with them, visible to others, accompanying them at all times, able to interact with the environment.
Here, the Animal Affinity is integrated. The challenge for the un-Affinitied is how to value themselves despite prevailing prejudices, a dilemma we have often seen in other characters learning about themselves-- Harry Potter, Ged, Cinderella, Snow White, the character Eleven in the online series Stranger Things. Luke Skywalker, growing up thinking he is an orphan.
The writing is straightforward and a fast read because of its rhythm, not just its short length, And it evokes my favorite fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling.” I love tales about the courage it takes to be one of the disregarded: Keith and David Carradine as the Kwai Chang Caine character in Kung Fu, Bill Bixby as David Baker in The Incredible Hulk– I always hoped this would turn out to be my story, too, redemptive strength blooming from a restrictive life. Now Elsa joins that company.
In an illuminating after-essay, “Tell Me of the Dead,” Jamail muses about the story’s genesis and its explorations of the dark side of human(ish) nature, along with the mysteries of the water element and the shadowy afterlife.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this not realizing that it was a short story which is not really my thing. It is set up as a series of scenes following a woman who has not developed her animal half which effectively is treated as a disability in this society. She suffers socially, economically, and especially mentally/emotionally by not coming into her power. Will she be stuck in this place of disadvantage forever estranged from the majority of society? Most people get their form as they mature but some need a life event.  Her personal desperation drives her to try to force it on the very low probability that she could have a form that requires she die to discover it. Honestly, the story lost me here. I didn't find the ending satisfying and if there was a deeper meaning I didn't understand it. The world the author built is interesting in its fantastical details.

[Paige Poe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I'm intrigued by the world Jamail begins to build in this short novella, and I'm excited for the next installments of Elsa's story. I wish the novella had been longer- I would've liked to see more of Elsa's friendships with her coworker and her cousin, and I still have some questions about how the animal affinities work in the world. Poor Elsa has been through so much, and Jamail's lyrical prose makes her distress relatable. Her lack of an animal affinity is perceived as a kind of disability, and her family's callousness in the face of this make the joy of her ultimate discovery that much more satisfying. I'm curious to see how her life changes (or doesn't) in the next book.

[Anastey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley, Memento Vivere Press, and Angélique Jamail for sending me this advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an interesting little novella. I wish there was a little bit more worldbuilding in the beginning. It took a bit to figure out what was going on. It has a strong vibe of dealing with racism and being "other". Elsa deals with constant hate from her family, her work, and everyone around her because she doesn't have an animal affinity. It does have a happy ending, but there was a ton of pain and an unaliving attempt to get there.

[Brenda Liebling-goldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Elsa hears the snarling from all the way downstairs . . .” So begins this magical story about conformity versus individuality in a world where humans are expected to evolve into their Animal Affinity. A highly original and thought-provoking tale, “A Narrowing Path” is both lyrical and profound but leavened throughout with a sly sense of humor. It is a must-read for all those who enjoy magical realism at its very best and most inventive!

[Eileen Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I had the opportunity to meet this local author at a recent event. Magic realism isn't my go-to genre but I was intrigued. This is an introduction via novella to the author's animal affinities series where characters exhibit animal characteristics as part of maturation to adulthood. I found there were so many potential metaphors within this short story. I would consider reading more!