Polyamory and ethical non-monogamy have entered the cultural mainstream over the past few years, showing up in TV shows like Couple to Throuple and The L Word, and within everyday discussions. Yet, despite polyamory’s long-standing history alongside monogamy, literature that gets into the nitty-gritty of it can be surprisingly hard to come by. That’s what makes Rochelle Siemienowicz’s latest book, Double Happiness, so refreshing. Rather than a sensationalised portrayal, Siemienowicz – who’s also a writer for ArtsHub‘s sister publication ScreenHub – offers an intimate approach, refusing to gloss over the hard emotional realities that come with it.
Double Happiness follows Siemienowicz’s memoir, Fallen, which explored the turbulent waters of an open marriage and the complexity of marrying too young. In this latest narrative, we follow the exuberant Anna. She’s married to thoughtful scholar Brendan, with whom she has a son, Luka. She’s been ‘good’ recently and, by good, we mean she’s avoided having another affair. Life is peaceful, if not a little monotonous, until she meets Jeremy – an easy-going, charismatic filmmaker – at a writers’ festival in Melbourne. The pair bond over sharks and Australian cinema.
This is Part One of the novel: ‘The Affair’. Admittedly it’s a hard read – it’s voyeuristic and almost invasive, not least because Anna seems to be a stand-in for the author herself. On top of that, the affair between Anna and Jeremy is no shadowy, guilt-ridden secret, but bold and entirely unrestrained – which you know from the blurb will soon unravel.
For anyone who’s read books such as The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy or More Than Two by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert, which approach non-monogamy through a pragmatic, educational lens, Siemienowicz’s book is something else entirely. The chapters rotate among Anna, Jeremy and Brendan, offering contrasting lenses on the same dynamic.
Anna’s perspective pulls no punches as she details her sexcapades, her frustrations with marriage and her sense of captivity, while Brendan’s narrative initially reverberates with a blend of casual cluelessness and anxiety. This interplay is bleak and extremely bold – Anna, infuriated over poor Wi-Fi hampering her connection with Jeremy, while Brendan reads Jan Morris’ Venice during a holiday in Hawaii.
It’s an uncomfortable read, but in the way that good writing often is. This is not polyamory-as-fantasy; it’s polyamory as a complicated, beautiful and sometimes nerve-wracking reality.
Part Two, aptly titled ‘The New Family’, opens with a scene in which Brendan watches, with surprising serenity, as Anna dances with Jeremy – now part of the family – whom he even permits a New Year’s kiss. This new configuration, a careful choreography of two lovers, a son – and soon – Brendan’s own new partner, Elke, appears to be running smoothly. But, beneath the congenial veneer, there is still messiness, ever-evolving boundaries, crippling jealousy, euphoric highs and, inevitably, deep exhaustion, especially when Jeremy seeks a new partner.
In this section, the pace feels more plodding than the high-voltage highs and lows of Part One, which Siemienowicz manages to detail with a clear, straightforward prose style. This shift is possibly bogged down by an excess of the Anna-Jeremy romance at the expense of other voices.
Personally, I wished for more of Brendan, whose initial uncertainty and conflicting emotions lend weight to the first section. The upside, however, is that the space created in the absence of whirlwind romance and betrayal allows Anna to grow, gradually reclaiming her sense of self beyond her relationships – a subtle yet powerful evolution that deepens her character.
Read: Book review: Why Are We Like This?, Zoe Kean
Double Happiness is a testament to Siemienowicz’s unflinching self-excavation, resulting in a rare kind of audacity that makes this book hard to put down.
Double Happiness, Rochelle Siemienowicz
Publisher: MidnightSun
ISBN: 9781922858474
Format: Paperback
Pages: 380 pp
Publication date: 1 October 2024
RRP: $34.99
