31 December 2024
64-year-old Albert Entwistle has been a postman in a quiet town in the North of England all his life, living alone since the death of his mam 18 years ago. He keeps himself to himself. He always has. But he’s just learned he’ll be forced to retire at his next birthday. With no friends and nothing to look forward to, the lonely future he faces terrifies him. He realises it’s finally time to be honest about who he is. He must learn to ask for what he wants. And he must find the courage to look for the man that, many years ago, he lost – but has never forgotten . . .
This heartfelt gay coming-of-age story across the decades came highly recommended to me last month and I completely devoured it in just a couple of days. I then set to with a quick catch up on all the other novels written by Matt Cain (reviews to follow).
The former Editor in Chief of Attitude magazine proves to be a truly gifted writer of gay fiction and uses an intimate knowledge of what it was like to growing up gay and isolated in the north many decades ago.
I absolutely fell in love with his central character of Albert and was willing him on every step of his great adventure. This is a story of lost love, new friendship and everything in between and triumph over adversity. It is written with so much heart and filled with joy and optimism. I was positively glowing with pride at the end.
I only wish I had had access to gay fiction as good as Matt’s novels in the 1970s when I was a young gay teenager. But I am delighted that the LGBTQ youngsters of today do. If you want to do a questioning youngster a massive favour, then buy them a Matt Cain box set to watch alongside Heartstopper on Netflix.
And absolutely brilliant news today that Matt Cain has been honoured with an MBE in the 2025 New Year Honors as a writer and broadcaster for services to LGBTQ+ culture. Well done, Matt!