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Love and Human Desire
Thomas Duffy Author Interview
One Love is an emotional novel that explores the different lives of people struggling with their own challenges in life. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This is the book I identify with most of all the books I have written. It is a book that enables me to share my life experiences with others and, hopefully, shows people the pain and passion in life as well as the complexity of love and human desire. I needed to tell this story for my own personal reasons as well. I believe the family element of the story is also very strong and easy to relate to.
I enjoyed the truth behind many of your characters and how I could relate to them. Is there anything you took from your own life and put into this story?
Yes. The book is semi-autobiographical. There are real people behind all the central characters. I, of course, am Timothy. I met someone many years back, almost 20 years ago, who I fell instantly in love with. All the prior people I had met just didn’t matter after I met this girl. She’s called Melody in the book. I imagined the consequences of meeting her later in life and starting anew despite the fact that we’ve both moved on. Of course, I moved on not by choice but because of rejection. All the main characters in the book have identical counterparts in real life.
This book is filled with a cast of interesting characters. If Hollywood came knocking, who would you cast as the leads in the movie?
Good question. I was thinking Oscar Isaac and Reese Witherspoon initially. Reese Witherspoon, definitely. She has the charm and charisma that Melody would need to have as an on-screen character. Maybe Giovanni Ribisi instead of Oscar Isaac, though, because Reese and Giovanni are closer in age. For Cindy, Carey Mulligan for sure. Cindy is the love of Timothy’s life and Mulligan would capture the essence of Cindy to a tee. I would want Vince Vaughn to play Louie if possible.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I put my sci-fi series, “The Separation” books on hold temporarily to work on a new book for my Truly Moving Book series which “One Love” is a part of. The new book is going to be my best yet! It’s due later this year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![One Love by [Duffy, Thomas]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51srA77oYFL._SY346_.jpg)
One Love begins as a young man named Timothy meets a girl named Melody. She seems to be the girl of his dreams but when things don’t go as planned, he moves forward and settles down with another girl named Cindy. As years pass, Timothy reconnects with Melody who is now married with children. He begins an affair with her that will change both of their lives and force him to evaluate the decisions he has made in his life. One Love is a story of family, romance and heartbreak. It will make you search your soul to discover what the right thing is for the characters to believe in.
One Love
![One Love by [Duffy, Thomas]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51srA77oYFL.jpg)
Thomas Duffy’s book, One Love, is a tale of both love and heartache. Protagonist Tim is torn between a “what might have been” sort of love and another that is actually in front of him. Duffy doesn’t paint over the ugly parts of love, instead highlighting them. He exposes what love looks like in real life, not some fairy tale version that we were taught in the movies. Duffy doesn’t shy away from the flaws and complexities of his characters. His is a raw and honest account of entangled and intertwined relationships that examines what we sacrifice for love, and the love we may sacrifice for security.
A book has to really grab me from page one for me to read it quickly. I got through this one in two days, even with other things going on. I was pulled in. I was fascinated and wanted to see what happened from page to page. I went through a range of emotion with the characters. I wanted to hug Tim and slap him sometimes at the same time. The same went for Louie and Melody at times. I felt like I was peeking in on intimate details of lives I shouldn’t be seeing but wanted to see at the same time. Thomas Duffy pulled back the curtain on real life. He exposed what everyone tries to hide.
Readers will find themselves identifying with the characters. They are all flawed in some way or another, and that makes them more identifiable. Louie’s addiction, Tim’s stagnant career and failure to commit, Melody’s indecisiveness, Cindy’s crippling anxiety. Duffy covers the gamut of dysfunction. Chances are that each reader will see his or herself in at least one of the characters. I appreciated the realism and admittedly saw myself in a character or two. Everyone has a “what might have been” scenario or two. This book lets readers vicariously live one of those scenarios out.
I’m not a romance novel fan. I wouldn’t call this your average romance novel by any stretch. However, there are some sexual scenes in the book. They are not overpowering to the rest of the plot. They feel necessary and relevant to the story. You’ll find much more concentration on the feelings of the characters and their daily lives than sex, but it is there. -And, it is important to the story.
This one was a real page-turner for me. The writing was simple without being boring. There was no pretense. No stuffiness. I was completely interested in the lives of the characters from the first page until the last and found myself wanting to know more. The characters felt real. They were well-developed. I feel invested in their lives. I want to know what else happens.
The book is brilliantly written. It was a very easy read. The pace was perfect, and the plot flowed well. The characters felt real. I can’t say enough good things about this writer. I’d love to read more of his work.
Pages: 263 | ASIN: B00PAE4HV4
LITERARY TITAN 