A Virtual Love

This heartfelt meditation on identity and personal responsibility from British author Blackman (On the Holloway Road) shows characters grappling with modern technology to satisfy their yearning for acceptance. Marie, a pretty young American living in England, is obsessed with her online image and convinced that her life would be more meaningful if she could connect with the reclusive celebrity blogger who writes under the nom de plume Jeff Brennan. A different bloke also named Jeff Brennan, a slovenly video gamer and IT consultant, gladly accepts Marie’s mistaken embrace of him as his polished, eloquent namesake. From there on, the story dances between comedy and tragedy as the young people lie to each other and themselves, desperate to believe that the effort they’re putting into editing themselves for their audience must somehow be worth it. Other characters, especially Jeff’s ex-journalist grandfather, comment on what losing a sense of permanence has cost society, but this well-written novel succeeds by showing the painful emptiness of two flawed but likable individuals. (June)