The Boy I Love

Description

The story is set in the aftermath of World War One. Paul Harris, still frail after shellshock, returns to his father's home and to the arms of his secret lover, Adam. He discovers that Margot, the fiancee of his dead brother, is pregnant and marries her through a sense of loyalty. Though Adam he finds work as a schoolteacher; while setting up a home with Margot he continues to see Adam. Pat Morgan who was a sergeant in Paul's platoon, runs a butcher's shop in town and cares for his twin brother, Mick who lost both legs in the war. Pat yearns for the closeness he experienced with Paul in the trenches. Set in a time when homosexuality was 'the love that dare not speak it's name' the story develops against the backdrop of the strict moral code of the period. Paul has to decide where his loyalty and his heart lies as all the characters search hungrily for the love and security denied them during the war. Superbly written with engaging characters that are simultaneously strong and weak, compassionate and flawed. The book is a controversial but compulsive read and readers will find their sympathies tugged in unusual directions as they engage with the lives of the characters. The Boy I Love is the first of a two book series - in the second book, based in World War 2 we following the life of Mick, now a war poet, his son and Robbie, son of Paul and Margot.

Marion Husband is a compassionate and compelling writer exploring the complexities of human nature with great empathy. Her debut novel The Boy I Love,the first in the three part The Boy I Love Trilogy, won the Andrea Badenoch Fiction Award and The Blackwell Prize. Her other novels include The Good Father and Say You Love Me. She is married with two grown-up children and teaches creative writing.

Husband's writing is notable for an understated yet intense sympathy for the movements of the heart. Impressive. The Guardian As with all the best novelists, Husband's talent seems to draw its energy from the experience of writing from perspectives far removed from her own as she inhabits other genders, other sexualities, other eras. Her ventriloquism is compelling -- Patrick Gale Marion Husband explores the morality of wartime Britain with intelligent and compassionate insight. Mslexia Marion Husband deals with the problems of gay men with great sensitivity and compassion and is unflinching when it comes to sex within a narrative that has pace and depth. New Books Magazine: The Boy I Love is a beautifully written novel. The character's lives are seamlessly woven together and all have considerable depth and complexity. Husband shows great promise with this debut novel, which offers convincing historical and moral perspectives on both war and the country's troubled relationship with homosexuality. The Gay Times Marion Husband relates her stories extremely well. The reader is fully engaged and feels greatly for all her characters. This is fine and thought-provoking writing, well organized and totally believable, dealing honestly with her subject matter. Her writing is near perfect. The Independent Gay Writer, USA the book "is character- and idea-driven rather than being action-packed, and the characters are particularly vivid and real. Although perhaps not the most loveable or nicest of people, they certainly remain in the mind after the book is closed as being fully fleshed and human." -- Anna Northfield Historical Novel Society The protagonist of this novel set in the aftermath of WW1, Paul Harris, has returned from the war, but his inner problems have only been increased by the experience. He marries his dead brother's girlfriend, partly to save her from shame because she is pregnant and partly in an attempt to be "normal". Paul is gay, and this is not easy in the 1920s, particularly as homosexuality is of course still illegal: "the love that dare not speak its name". Paul has been having an affair with a teacher, Adam, who finds Paul a job teaching at the same school. Paul is, however, not cut out for this job, and the children take advantage of his perceived weaknesses. The subplot about the job serves to illustrate key themes of the novel: bullying in its various forms, the effect upon the victims, and also the problem faced by many of the returning soldiers of how to find a place in the world, damaged as they have been, mentally and/or physically by their experiences. The sex can be quite graphic at times, so be warned if this is something that offends you. This novel has won prizes, and it is compelling in many ways. It is character- and idea-driven rather than being action-packed, and the characters are particularly vivid and real. Although perhaps not the most loveable or nicest of people, they certainly remain in the mind after the book is closed as being fully fleshed and human. -- Lucienne Boyce Historical Novel Society