Francien Verhoeven

Ms. Match: a Novel Francien Verhoeven

Who are we? And where do we belong? Confused in thought, one man, transplanted to a new city, contemplates such questions as he looks at the view from his fourth-floor apartment's balcony. It's a view of high-rise apartment buildings with patches of grass between them, of a paved lot with cars and garbage cans, and of concrete fences. The concept of distance intrigues him. But it is the desire to belong and a longing to overcome distance that shapes how he perceives life. Between storytelling and more serious contemplation, the narrator challenges facts of the human existence and the meaning of freedom. What can the sciences really tell us, and what should we salvage out of religions gone by the wayside? In between questions asked and answers forthcoming, he playfully deals with a city bureaucrat whose assistant, Amy, shoots an arrow of love into his heart. And it is within the confines of a bedroom chamber where the lovers readily-or not so readily-reveal what orgasmic truth lays hidden between the covers. With a refreshing philosophical slant, Ms. Match is a literary novel from talented newcomer Francien Verhoeven that offers a glimpse into the curious mind of one individual's search for truth.