The Storied Life Of Aj Fikry

Amelia Loman is a 31-year-old “dirty blonde giantess” who lives a busy life working for the publisher Knightley Press (10). Amelia’s specializes in “persnickety little bookstores and the particular breed that runs them” (5). She’s as much of an alcoholic as she is ambitious but ultimately is quite successful at her job. During her initial interaction with a very rude and off-putting A.J. Fikry, she only allows him to push her so far before she stands up and leaves, demonstrating that while she is business-minded, she still knows her self-worth.

Amelia is also a romantic. Once she begins her relationship with A.J—and Maya—her funny, loving, and smart character shines. The more A.J. spends time with her, the more clearly their idiosyncrasies align. By the end of the novel, Amelia has blossomed. She is maternal and independent, capable of carrying on the life and family she and A.J. created without him.

At the beginning of the book, Maya Fikry is a "bright but trusting" two-year-old (76). Abandoned by her suicidal mother in a bookstore, she takes to A.J. at once. She grows up under his tutelage, fascinated by the literary life. Maya is described as “cerebral” and advanced for her age (128). As a young child, she worships A.J. and the educational environment he creates for her.

Her closeness to A.J. diminishes as she becomes a teenager. She feels embarrassed by A.J. and annoyed by others whose intimacy doesn’t exist solely on the page. But she continues to want to be a writer—and to impress her father, which may be one and the same.  

Aside from her physical appearance, Ismay is the antithesis of her sister Nic. She often makes bad and impetuous decisions and thinks only of herself. She loves luxury items: silk clothes, high thread count sheets, and for a while, her husband, author Daniel Parish. Eventually, however, his unfaithful ways and her seven miscarriages wear her down, and Ismay debates both suicide and murder. By the end of the book, she proves to be the gatekeeper of many of the town’s secrets. 

Daniel Parish is Ismay’s good-looking and unfaithful husband. He is a man whose only concerns are pleasing himself and advancing his career. He doesn’t visit Ismay in the hospital when she has her fifth miscarriage, and he repeatedly cheats on her—even when she is only a room away. When Daniel dies in a car accident caused by Ismay’s poor driving, his last thought is about his success as a writer—not about his wife.