The question is, how is he going to do it? His wife, Carmel, would hear nothing of divorce because of her staunch Christian upbringing. The novel tells the story of Barry Walker, a 74-year-old husband and father of two, who is contemplating on divorcing his wife and finally living in the open with his secret partner, Morris.

I mean, it’s not every day that you get to read a story about closeted elderly men, right? You can find lots of LGBT stories nowadays, but only a few of them touch on the aging gay man in such a humorous way. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo immediately appealed to my fancy. 'Coming from sparsely furnished homes, the women of the West Indies went goggle-eyed at the veritable cornucopia of colourful fripperies in the Land of Hope and Affordable Ornaments'.' Mr Clever doesn't see the obvious: Carmel's chintz addiction is masking a deeper need.Amazon/ Barnes & Nobles/ Books-A-Million/ GoodreadsĪs someone who loves exploring new books based on blurbs and descriptions, the premise of Mr. Without wishing to give away a satisfying twist, the chapter about Hackney Council, the eroticism of staplers and Reuben from Town Planning is wonderful.Īs is a bitchy monologue from Barry about Carmel's front room – 'Could write a cultural studies essay about that particular phenomenon. She too is smart, and her frustration at her empty marriage is heartbreaking. While Barry's chapters are didactic and first person, all titled 'The Art of …', his wife's are hesitant and poetic, with titles beginning 'The Song of …' She addresses herself in the second person, as if she views her life as having happened to someone else. This would all be a bit one-dimensional if it weren't for the fact that Carmel also gets a voice of her own. Will Barrington really go to the gay bar?

The blurb promises a 'meltdown' and 'big decisions' but Barry's carefully constructed life is so beautifully drawn in the first few pages that it's hard to believe Evaristo will get him from here to there in 300 pages. This not being on, in 1960s Antigua, he married a local beauty and they moved to London, where Barry has raised a family and a business and, so far, managed to keep his real love a secret – he thinks. Autodidact, property developer, natty dresser, rum drinker, suspected womaniser, the 74-year-old Antigua-born Hackney resident has been in love with his best friend since they were teenagers. īarry is what is commonly known as a bit of a character. Bernadine Evaristo's seventh novel, Mr Loverman, stars the 50-years-married Barrington Jedediah Walker, Esq and his wife, Carmel.

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