Reviewed by Lily
TITLE: Half a Man
AUTHOR: Scarlet Blackwell
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 27,610 words
BLURB: Traumatised by the nightmare of trench warfare in France, Robert Blake turns to rent boy Jack Anderson for solace. Neither man expects their business relationship to go quite so far.
It is 1919, less than a year after the end of the First World War with a recovering Britain in the grip of the influenza pandemic. Crippled veteran of the Somme battle, Robert Blake, is looking for someone to ease his nightmares of France and his guilt over what happened to his commanding officer. He turns to educated rent boy Jack Anderson for physical solace, not expecting how deeply the two soon become immersed in each other’s lives
REVIEW:
What a beautiful historical post war romance about a young male “companion” and a paraplegic WWI veteran. Jack, who is the companion was hired by Robert who cannot walk because he was shot in the back during the war.
It had been two years since Robert returned from a battle, but still struggles emotionally so he withdraws from society leaving himself craving for a human contact. Even though Jack finished the university and is an educated young male, he also struggles financially so he works part-time in a book store and also works part-time as a paid companion for rich men. The relationship between Jack and Robert is intriguing, sensuous and sad at times. They both have their own emotional baggage so as I was reading their story, I found myself flitting from tears to frustration and smiles with happy sighs.
I spent a whole day doing nothing but reading this story so that is how much I was captivated by Jack and Robert’s tale. The story flows majestically from past to present events and from chapter to chapter. The characters are well established and solid. Their dialogue to very engaging. As I was reading this story, I had to remind myself that it was a fiction and not real… But I cried my eyes out at a couple scenes because they felt so real. It was like I was there with them.
Their story also touched some significant social issues of that era and those parts added extra grit to Jack and Robert’s tale.
The end somehow did not feel as if it had completely ended. It had a more “happy for now” kind of end, but nevertheless I liked the end. I now want to read the whole series.
RATING:
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