Anthony Paolucci

AS IF FOR DEAR LIFE

​

COMING SOON!

​​

1902. A boy. A girl. A brief encounter that changes everything.

​​​

As If for Dear Life unfolds at the turn of the century, in a world poised between tradition and change. Set against a backdrop of shifting social rules and unspoken hierarchies, the story traces the uncertain path between innocence and experience, safety and risk, restraint and longing.

​​​

At its heart lies a chance meeting between two young strangers, inexplicably drawn to each other in their search for completion. He is a reserved newspaper copyreader accustomed to observing life from a distance; she, a sharp-witted barber whose independence sets her apart. Bound by a shared love of literature and a haunting sense of loneliness, they are enticed into a connection that deepens beyond what either anticipates, blurring the lines between friendship and love.

​

When a figure from the girl’s past unexpectedly reenters her life—magnetic, polished, and unpredictable—a delicate triangle begins to form, revealing the perils of unchecked desire and the quiet, consuming threat of obsession.

​​

As If for Dear Life is about early love and its unraveling—of danger disguised as charm, and the fragile line between devotion and loss in a world where appearances are everything…and nothing is what it seems.