I’ve been wanting to read a second novel by Priest Ever since I picked up his brilliant “The Separation” while I was on a vacation to sunny Italy, but every time my hand was reaching out for something interesting it came back holding a newer and, almost always, inferior piece of fiction. This injustice couldn’t be allowed to continue. I needed something that I knew would blow me away and it would turn out that “The Affirmation” was exactly what the doctor had proscribed.

When I reviewed “The Separation”, I said it was one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences of my life. It was also one of the very best books I’ve had the honor of reading. “The Affirmation” slides effortlessly in front of the aforementioned book in every area, thus cementing Priest as one of my favourite authors.

The story is a incredibly complex one that deserves multiple rereads to be fully understood. Unfortunately I haven’t the time nor the will to perform that task, so you’ll just have to settle with my shallow first-impression.

Peter Sinclair is a man who grew up on the outskirts of London in the post-WWII era. At the age of twenty nine he suffers a personal crisis. Everything he knows and is seems to crumble, so when an old family friend offers him the refuge of a small cabin the country, he quickly takes him up on the offer. While living in the cabin he attempts to write an autobiography of his life. After a lot of frustration, he decides that only a fictional world in where he is the protagonist and his life his conveyed through metaphors can have chance of reaching what he describes as “the highest form of truth”. But nothing is as it first seems and soon the line between reality and fiction is distorted so thoroughly that we you can no longer be sure which version of Peter is the correct one (if there even is a version that can be “correct”.). I fear to tell you more without spoiling Priest’s genius, but suffice to say that this is a fascinating story in every sense of the word.

The theme of the book is one of memory and what is it that defines us. This seems to be one of the red lines of Priests authorship, seeing as you could describe “The Separation”’s themes with many of the same words. However, I felt that this book did a better job of it, but it’s also harder to read due to the fact that the characters and story in “The Separation” is more likable than the one you find in “The Affirmation”. It weighs in at merely 247 pages, so even if you find it hard to read, you should have no trouble sticking with it to the end.

“The Affirmation” is a superb book that I recommend heartily to people who’re looking for a high quantity of intelligence in their fiction.

It’s truly amazing. 9,5 /10.