SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Aren and Élise by Ettenig Sayam
The moving and drama-filled novel Aren and Élise by Ettenig Sayam brings two very different people into a post-midlife romance that finds each of them navigating very unfamiliar territory.
When 50-year-old Haitian foreign language teacher Élise falls during a hike in Vermont, she is rescued by Aren, a vibrant 63-year-old engineer of Armenian descent who seems to have found the woman he didn’t know he was looking for. Sharing little in common beyond a history of political violence, the confident and charming Aren woos the shy and reluctant Élise with persistence, romance, and erotic sexual adventure, until the couple encounters […]