INTERLUDE

– Rupert Smith This new novel follows a similar structure to his very popular novel, Man’s World (2010). Again we have contrasting dual narratives set in London – a modern day story and another set primarily in the late 1930s and 1940s. This story set in the past will most resonate with gay readers as it explores a gay relationship complicated by the need to be covert. Handsome, strapping young Edward Barton falls in with a theatrical company and is promptly seduced by Eleanora, the blowsy middle-aged leading lady. Her husband Terence is also part of the company but it’s an unconventional marriage as they both have a taste for young men. Edward finds his niche on stage and also writing sketches, but he also quickly learns how much certain men appreciate his physical assets. Edward is seduced by an older, wellto-do man and begins to appreciate the comfort and security offered. But it’s when Eleanora and Ted’s son Billy returns injured from the war that a new dynamic comes into play. Once again Smith delivers a highly readable and entertaining novel which also provides depth and substance. The characters are finely developed and their f laws carefully calibrated. The rather complicated plot is deftly handled and the historic detail and setting is fascinating, in particular the realities of 1940s gay life. It takes more than 100 pages for the gay storyline to kick in but once it does, it basically hijacks the novel.