Why The Ten Year Affair Is A Great Novel

 

I just read The Ten Year Affair and loved it. 

It spoke to me on a number of levels. I read it in three days. It consumed me, filling me with memories of long-dormant curiosities and it fueled me with exploratory fantasies of the present. The book felt comforting and threatening at the same time, for confronting one’s desires is a very tricky thing.

This novel awakened something in me. It was like reading one’s personal diary of fantasies. It was about a young woman seeking refuge in a Mommy playgroup by talking to the one guy in the group, a stay-at-home dad. She begins to have an affair with him, well, at least in her mind.

The book focuses on a few key questions: Is it cheating if you merely think about having an affair all the time and imagining it with a specific person? Should one act on their desires, regardless of the consequences? Is living out a fantasy ever as good as imagining it?  

I love how the author spent a substantial portion of the book obsessing over an affair of the heart that was not being realized, and how she shows a split-world timeline of what Cora, the main character, felt deeply and thought about in contrast to her real-world actions. What she did not actually do was the most powerful thing.   

Real life always coexists with some level of fantasy —both because and in spite of it. Fantasy compensates but it also forces us to confront what we want and can’t have — unless we are ready to take a risk and pay a price.  

Her insights have a way of coming across as if we are invited, one-on-one, to the intimate conversations we have in our heads. This story is about one woman’s relentless desire, almost as if out of obligation, to chase what may or may not fulfill her.   

Is the destiny of all obsessions to end with one’s attempt to fulfill them? Does one desire another based on the anticipated merits the physical act could bring – or is it desired merely because it is something forbidden, something desired, something other?   

Can she go without ever realizing her fantasy? Is every conversation, real and imagined, mere foreplay to an act that may not happen?  You need to read it to find out what happens.

This is a lively, well-written, realistic look at one woman’s battles with who she was, accepting who she is, and wondering what she will become. 

I also wonder if the author penned this book as her confessional, whether it is about her own fantasies or perhaps her own affair masked as fantasy. They say one writes what they know.  

Only the author, Erin Somers, knows the truth, but by now the fantasy, if that is all it was, is so immersed in her life. It has become an experience of its own, and now that it is in book form, it seems even more concrete; this thing that was fleeting now has shape and form, something others can see and discuss and no longer is it just the domain of her imaginative mind and private compulsions. Others can now co-opt her fantasy and make it theirs.  

By the way, I love how her author photo is taking up the entire back cover. Though obviously staged — the forced positioning of her hands trying to look natural give it away. No doubt her photographer suggested it. But the black and white imagery is a nice touch. Sitting sideways shows she won’t reveal all of herself, even though her writings say so much. The horizontal lines of her shirt focus us to look one way, while her tilted head, eyes glancing away, lips ever so slightly parted express a desire and a curiosity.   

Or, I just attached a lot of shit to something that was unintentional and not at all there. We all tend to do that.

This is what happens when we look at anything. We only have a singular vantage point to look upon and we can only contextualize based on our experiences, observations, and learnings, which by no means suffice as an accurate and complete understanding of all that is.  

It doesn’t surprise me that the book is great. She has written for The New Yorker, Esquire, New York Times, GQ and The Atlantic. Her debut novel, Stay Up With Hugo Best, was voted by Vogue as Best Book of the Year. She is also the news editor for Publishers Lunch.  

This is a book, billed as humorous literary fiction, that questions and pushes our boundaries – and the ripple effects of one’s actions and inactions. It has the reader wondering what the young woman will do with her predicament, walking us up to various lines, some of which get crossed and redrawn – and some that can’t be seen but exist nevertheless.

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Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 5,400,000 page views. With 5,500+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum