Her Demise — Aliah Uddin

Is it the gentle caress of a hand? That sly look you catch from the corner of your eye? That blanket of warmth that is their body? Perhaps love is the drug and the significant other your dealer. Always giving the good stuff, taking it away, and giving it back again. It's a love that makes her ache. And it's a love that may just break her. As one woman navigates the most complex channels of the human heart, what could possibly keep her there? Her Demise, the heartrending new love story by Aliah Uddin, probes the tumultuous paradox that is destructive love. This gripping, dramatic tale of jealous love is certain to provoke rage, sorrow, yearning, and sometimes, redemptive laughter. Mining the conflicting emotions of a romance that has come devastatingly undone, this debut novel offers an intimate portrait of one profoundly intimate connection that alternates between fiery passion and tormented prison. Interweaving the points of view of both paramours, the novel offers an inventive literary approach to exploring how destructive love comes into being. Fresh from a disappointing love affair, recent college graduate Sariah finds an unexpected intrigue on the streets of her native New York City when the handsome Preston approaches her. Though Preston is a committed womanizer who tosses out women's numbers as quickly as he gathers them, he falls in love with Sariah, who has spent the better part of her life feeling or being unwanted. As Preston's emotional engagement intensifies, so do his fits of jealousy and subsequent streaks of abuse. Her Demise charts the course of their union over several years, illustrating how Preston, little by little, is able to break down Sariah's resolve and render her completely unable to decide when enough is enough. When tragic events happen that call into question her most sacred human bonds, can Sariah finally emerge from the addictive, destructive force that has become the mainstay of her entire existence? At once tender and terrifying, Her Demise lifts the veil on a love that is all too familiar in today's complex world, illustrating in evocative detail how events can conspire to disarm even the most grounded among us when it comes to affairs of the heart. Finely crafted and rich in authentic emotion, Her Demise exposes both the abused and the abuser in an absorbing, all-too-real account of the perilous fallout of damaged souls.