The first novel from the ex-literary editor of Playboy carries a considerable erotic charge, but there's much more to it besides: grief is Amy Grace Loyd's subject and her narrative is as psychologically acute as it is sensual. What's more she as good on the texture of spring in the city as she is on the faces and flesh. A classy debut by a sure-footed storyteller.

As a story about bereavement it would seem to shout "moving on". But this brisk phrase from the world of cheap psychobabble does not convey the full force and clarity of an impressive debut novel.

For first-time novelist Amy Grace Loyd, an apartment building is not simply housing. It is also a metaphor for the paradoxical isolation and proximity we feel among others... With forceful, sensual prose (the author is captivated by the scents of people and places), Loyd allows Celia to discover that 'life had as many gains as losses as long as we were willing to tally them