Short, punchy, and dramatic, Emily Adrian’s Seduction Theory (Little, Brown 2025) is a character-driven novel about obsession, devotion, and manipulation set against the backdrop of academia.
Adrian’s novel is structured as the MFA thesis of Roberta “Robbie” Green, who becomes embroiled in the betrayals and intricacies of her thesis advisor’s marriage. Simone is the enigmatic and beautiful star of the creative writing department at Edward’s University, and her husband, Ethan, is less popular but on the surface deeply devoted to Simone. However, when Ethan and the department’s administrative assistant, Abigail, have a brief but destructive affair, Simone realizes that her marriage may not be as perfect as it seems.
But Simone is also juggling her own secrets and half-truths. While Ethan is away and his affair with Abigail is unfolding, Simone becomes extremely close to her new advisee, Robbie, and the younger woman becomes a confidante and a devotee of Simone’s mind and work, at least on the surface. When her relationship with Simone, which is alternately erotic and obsessive, is abruptly curtailed, Robbie begins to use the details of Simone’s marriage and Ethan’s infidelity as her inspiration for her MFA thesis. What unfolds in the novel is a story of obsession, desire, and betrayal, and it’s not always clear who is at fault.
This is a sharply written character study with a fascinating premise. Adrian strikes the right tone here with the high-stakes, competitive, and somewhat neurotic setting of this small MFA program. While the characters might seem archetypal at first, they are much more complex and multifaceted than they first appear. A story of adultery is in reality a story of obsession, and the novel asks questions about when and where the line between right and wrong/moral or immoral is actually crossed, how much an outsider can really know about a marriage, and what the right response to a betrayal might be.
What stood out to me in this novel was the writing, which kept me reading. The observations and images in this novel are striking, and although this is ostensibly a book about infidelity and obsession, Seduction Theory is also a book about writing. As a fictional MFA thesis, the novel plays with the conventions of creative writing and craft and makes the reader aware of the constructed nature of Robbie’s narrative. I especially enjoyed the brief and sometimes involuntary insights we get into Robbie’s character and her motivations. Her desire for and obsession with Simone was compelling and frightening in equal measure. While this novel won’t be for every reader, it is with reading for those who enjoy complex, literary fiction that packs a punch in a very short time.
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Content Warnings: adultery.
Rachel Friars is the co-author of Neo-Victorian Lesbians on Screen (Anthem Press, 2025) and completed her doctorate in English Literature Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada in 2024. Her current research centers on neo-Victorianism and lesbian literature and history. Her work has been published with journals such as Studies in the Novel, The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies, Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture, and in The Palgrave Handbook of neo-Victorianism.
