The New Novel from Priya Ramsingh is an Entertaining, Hopeful Look at Modern Love in the City

Author Priya Ramsingh has won critical acclaim for her previous work, and has seen her fiction shortlisted for best story of the year by The Caribbean Writer. With her latest novel, she returns with a modern drama about two people from varied backgrounds who navigate the complicated world of contemporary dating.

Set in Toronto, The Elevator (Palimpsest Press) follows Aria Ramseen as she tries to get back to herself and prioritize her own happiness for once, setting aside anything that drags her down. In the midst of this renewal, she finds herself on a city-based dating site and is matched with a longtime crush, who happens to live in her building.

Ramsingh expertly shifts to the perspective of our other main lead in the story as well, Rob Anderson, who also has a thing for Aria, and his own personal drama. He's lost focus on his dating apps at just the wrong time, and has missed Aria's message. 

The result is a lively two-hander where both parties try to find their way to love and contentment through the muddle of all of these modern social miscues and their own personal problems. It's an entertaining and hopeful story that will draw readers in, and have them rooting for these two characters and their potential connection.

Check out this Long Story Novelist Interview with the author, where she talks about her latest work!

Open Book:

Do you remember how your first started this novel or the very first bit of writing you did for it? 

Priya Ramsingh:

The premise behind the story is based on a real life situation. Years ago I signed up for a dating app and matched with a man who lived in my building, whom I saw in the elevator on occasion. We actually had that one awkward moment where we rain into one another just after being matched.  I believe we mumbled ‘good morning’ and then I didn’t see him for about a year. So I figured he had moved. But then suddenly, there he was in the parking garage and I thought to myself, this would make a good story.

OB:

How did you choose the setting of your novel? What connection, if any, did you have to the setting when you began writing?

PR:

When I was in my early 30s, I had an apartment in High Park that was walking distance from Roncensvalles and the closest grocery store. I remember the little shoe repair shop owned  by the older European couple and the Revue cinema. Years later, after moving out of the area, I met a friend at the pizza place on Roncy for lunch and realized how the neighbourhood had changed. The older stores were replaced  with trendy restaurants and coffee shops and there was one new condo building, and I thought, ‘this would make a great setting for the story’, especially if I described the gentrification. 

OB:

Did you find yourself having a "favourite" amongst your characters? If so, who was it and why?

PR:

I really like Mila. Although I am not really sure where she came from. She just appeared and wrote herself. But as I was writing, I felt her. I felt her story and I imagined what she looked like and how she talked and I found myself like a ghost, watching her confident stride around the nail salon, her passion for cooking and the love from her mother. 

I also like Naomi because she is a mish mash of real women who I’ve encountered in my life. Entitled, envious, and yet lovingly protective of Aria all at the same time. She’s complex. 

OB:

Did you do any specific research for this novel? Tell us a bit about that process. 

PR:

I referenced Vivek Shraya’s novel, I’m Afraid of Men, when I was crafting Mila. Her story gave me some inspiration, specifically the fact that Vivek did not change her name, and the way she describes her love for women’s fashion, borrowing her mother’s jacket and her confidence in embracing her own unique style. 

I also interviewed a physician with experience treating patients with eating disorders. He explained the difference between bulimia and the eating disorder which is the basis of Aria’s struggle in the story. Basically, bulimia is binging and purging, which isn’t what Aria does. 

OB:

What if, anything, did you learn from writing this novel?

PR:

Mostly that my book doesn’t follow the typical romance format, which may have disappointed romance readers. While it has ‘bones of romance’, it’s more about people, their lives, their baggage and how they interact with one another while juggling their own issues. I learned that I cannot write a romance without delving into the issues and trauma that most people carry. I am fascinated by human behavior, and wonder what motives people to behave the way they do. So often, actions are unconscious. I regularly ask myself, ‘why would someone act this way’ and then I let my imagination go. 

______________________________________

Priya Ramsingh is a writer and photographer. Her debut novel, Brown Girl in the Room, was published by Tightrope Books (2017). Her short story, Pies for Lunch, was shortlisted for best short fiction in 2021 by The Caribbean Writer. She is a former reporter and diversity columnist for Metroland Media, and she continues to write op-eds for the Toronto Star. In her spare time, Priya is a wildlife photographer and naturalist. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, Ramsingh now lives in Toronto.