Illustrated with photographs from his nostalgia collection, Joey Jenkinson’s latest story follows a regular pattern: that of a gay young man growing up in a household with an abusive father and long-suffering mother—who finds the affection missing during his youth with what Oscar Wilde called, “The love that dare not speak its name.”
The story opens in 1978, when 18-year-old best friends Selby Forbes and Philip “Pip” Watson, leave their Yorkshire grammar school and embark on their respective careers—Selby working for his local newspaper, Pip joining the police force.
Within weeks of leaving school, courtesy of a day-trip to the coast followed by a walk along the canal tow-path near their home, Selby and Pip are no longer best friends—but lovers. To get away from his father, Selby moves into a place of his own, while his mother moves in with her sister and instigates divorce proceedings.
The story moves on…
Selby and Pip spend their second anniversary in the coastal resort of Whitby, which holds so many unpleasant memories for Selby—Pip’s way of helping him to exorcise his childhood demons. He returns home, however, to bad news—his beloved mother has died. Soon afterwards, he receives a promotion and is sent to Durham to report on a murder trial—here he seduces his older colleague, Mick Buchanan. Upon his return, he learns that his father already had a mistress while his mother was alive—the matriarch of the Franklyn family, the scourge of the neighbourhood. Then his father is badly injured in a hit-and-run and later dies, and the real drama begins, testing Selby and those closest to him to the limit.
As the Franklyns wreak havoc on the lovers, Pip disappears. Then Leon Porter—the son of Selby’s editor who was recently arrested in the local park and charged with lewd behaviour—is beaten up, and asks for Selby to visit him in hospital, though they have never met. Subsequently, when Selby realises why Leon has asked to see him, they become lovers. Adding to the intrigue is Tim Moffatt, a dishy young constable who may or may not hold the clues to solving a complex, sexually-charged mystery.
To reveal more would only spoil the surprising ending to this story…
WARNING: this book contains adult material of a sexual nature.
