Two-sided stories

Riley’s extremely limited, first person narration throughout First Love is rigidly to set a theme of the convoluted nature of good versus evil when it comes to dysfunctional relationships. There is no denying that Edwyn is emotionally abusive. He tears Neve down in ways she did not know she could be destroyed, resulting in Neve’s fear of herself by the end of the novel. He is shown to be a monster, and readers take this as truth because of Neve’s deeply personal and defeated recollections of their fights and of the nasty things Edwyn says to her.

Not to be overlooked, however, is the role that Neve may have played in their cruel marriage. Edwyn reveals many things about his own attitude about Neve’s culpability in the final chapters of the novel. Here, the couple is having yet another one of...