"…being decent about…you know.” He gestured vaguely. Portnoy nodded, interpreting his hand wave as he meant it…being a queer, shacking up with a criminal, having poor judgment in my personal life generally. [loc. 1475]
Another novel set -- coincidentally -- in the early 1970s, mostly in rural England. Laurie Henshaw has been working on his uncle's farm since his teens. At thirty-two, he has a stroke, and is struggling to accept that some things are now impossible for him. Meanwhile, in the City, Phil McManus is on extended leave after his boyfriend set him up to take the fall for an insider trading deal. He retreats to a country cottage to wallow.
They literally bump into one another at the local Post Office. (Yes, it is set in the past, when rural post offices existed.) It's nto a meet-cute, though. Laurie is mourning the loss of his strength and coordination: Phil is grieving his lost career and his London life. And it's not long since homosexuality was decriminalised: 'Phil hadn’t made a move or said anything and Laurie hadn’t liked to ask. You still didn’t, unless you were sure, despite the change in the law.' [loc. 1016]
Strong themes of found family (I liked Cat, a homeless girl who's found refuge at the farm) and echoes of a lost rural past. Lester evokes the period nicely: the possibility of simply going to ground and not being connected, the prejudice, the traces of old superstitions and beliefs, the existence of flourishing farms. A small gentle story which was just what I needed when I was in bed with a bad cold.
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