Permission

Description

'Beautifully written, mysterious and compelling' Janet Fitch 'Permission excavates the uncertain landscape that lies just beneath the Hollywood dream factory we think we all know and against all odds finds something sacred there.' Ryan Ruby, author of THE ZERO AND THE ONE 'Formidable in its elegance and fierce in its simplicity, Saskia Vogel's writing leaves the reader stunned and moved and wanting more.' Andrea Scrima, author of A LESSER DAY * * * A raw, fresh, haunting, emotionally and sexually honest literary debut. When Echo's father gets swept away by a freak current off the Los Angeles coast, she finds herself sinking into a complete state of paralysis. With no true friends and a troubled relationship with her mother, the failed young actress attempts to seek solace in the best way she knows: by losing herself in the lives of strangers. When by chance Echo meets a dominatrix called Orly, it finally feels like she might have found someone who will be nurturing and treasure her for who she is. But Orly's fifty-something houseboy, Piggy, isn't quite ready to let someone else share the intimate relationship he's worked so hard to form with his mistress. PERMISSION is a love story about people who are sick with dreams and expectations and turn to the erotic for comfort and cure. As they stumble through the landscape of desire, they are in a desperate search for the answer to that sacred question: how do I want to be loved?

Saskia Vogel is from Los Angeles and lives in Berlin, where she works as a writer and Swedish-to-English literary translator. She has written on power and sexuality for publications such as Paris Review Daily, The White Review, Sight and Sound, and The Offing. Previously, she worked as Granta magazine's publicist and as an editor at the AVN Media Network, where she reported on pornography and adult pleasure products.

Formidable in its elegance and fierce in its simplicity, Saskia Vogel's writing leaves the reader stunned and moved and wanting more * Andrea Scrima, author of A Lesser Day * Beautifully written, mysterious and compelling * Janet Fitch * Permission excavates the uncertain landscape that lies just beneath the Hollywood dream factory we think we all know and against all odds finds something sacred there * Ryan Ruby, author of The Zero and the One * Vogel's writing is beauty in motion. From capturing a humiliating date with a predatory agent to what attracts people to BDSM, this is an addictive read you'll finish within hours * Stylist * A story about grief, loneliness and sadomasochism . . . it challenges any preconceptions you might have about BDSM in literature . . . Permission is sometimes a dark, even gruelling, read. But it possesses an unshowy beauty, too, suggesting Vogel is a gleaming new talent -- Arifa Akbar * Observer (New Review) * [Permission] delicately explores all the things that are part and parcel of our sexual lives: intimacy, community, desire, alienation, consent and power * HUCK Magazine * The debut literary novel from a journalist and translator, and it deals with sexual politics, power and consent in a subtle and convincing way . . . Vogel negotiates her story with a real sense of empathy and understanding for all her characters. In precise, elegant prose, she delivers an alternative feminist love story for the modern age * Big Issue * Vogel's portrayal of sexual kink is particularly refreshing: rather than pruriently gorging on catharsis, Permission foregrounds the emotional intimacy - built on constancy, trust and compassion - that can flourish in the most unconventional relationships * Guardian * This [is] dreamy, whip-smart first fiction * Oprah Magazine * Permission conveys [Echo's] preoccupation with desire through visceral prose that imbues everything - from the unstable California landscape to the banalities of affluent suburbia - with sensuality -- Natasha Young * The Believer * In Saskia Vogel's debut novel, Permission, desire is explored in its rich entirety and complexity, in its intersections with every day life, stress and lingering grief * Times Literary Supplement *