Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Stamp of Nature
AUTHOR: Chris Cheek
PUBLISHER: 2FM Limited
LENGTH: 316 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2018
BLURB:
Peter Harvey is a second year undergraduate in the Oxford of 1968. At school, two years earlier, he had an affair with John, a younger boy, whom he then dropped. Now, John is coming to the same college.
Memories unlocked and Peter faces the issue of his sexuality, aided by his old friend and mentor, Arthur Benson, the school’s deputy head. Peter and John meet and resume their relationship, but can it survive the events of a traumatic summer?
Five years later, we see Peter returning to his old school as a teacher, seeking to build a new life. He settles in with help from Arthur Benson and new colleagues Terry Fowler and Ian Palmer.
The school has problems, though: it is stuck firmly in the past. A new headmaster, Bob Jordan, has plans for sweeping changes, but he faces opposition from a cabal of teachers, sixth formers and governors. They will use any weapon in their fight against reform.
Can they succeed? Will they destroy Peter’s new life? And where is John in all this?
REVIEW:
Though Oxford college boy dramas have never been my genre of choice, I was intrigued by this book and its themes of second chances and change.
Peter is thrilled to discover John, his secret high school sweetheart, will be attending Oxford with him—but the excitement is soon overtaken by dread when he remembers how he broke John’s heart. The two boys still have chemistry, and they fall back in love, only to be torn apart by a tragedy that sends John into a guilty tailspin. Years later, they reunite once more as teachers at their old high school, but they are older and more complicated, and now they must deal with changes in the school administration and the ongoing battle between old ways and new.
I was disappointed to find that this story doesn’t feel very grounded in time or place. The year is 1968, but there are no cultural markers in sight—no music, movies, current events, or politics. This is especially jarring since it takes place in high school and college, so the characters should be invested in pop culture. I mean, there was so much going on in 1968, only miles away from these characters—the Kray twins were arrested, Yellow Submarine was released, and Vietnam War protests were rampant, to name only a few. I kept thinking everything felt more suited to about 25 years earlier—it was so stuffy and regimented with no hint of the cultural shifts happening throughout the decade. I suppose those old traditions were what the characters were fighting against, but their rebellion was so nebulous that it didn’t seem to mean anything.
While this book doesn’t have an unhappy ending, it doesn’t conclude the way we expect. It definitely isn’t a traditional romance or love story, so if you’re looking for a tender, dramatic historical romance, you’ll be disappointed. In fact, I think the romance between Peter and John becomes a secondary thought by the last fourth of the book, overtaken by school drama and politics. Unfortunately, this shift doesn’t really pay off, and it seems more like the author got stuck or distracted than anything.
I enjoy the setting of this book and the potential drama that could unfold regarding gay teachers in a traditional English public school. I was also eager to see how John grew as a person and learned to overcome his guilt and internalized homophobia. But in the end, the biggest flaw in this book is that it’s simply boring. The relationships never gain traction, the stakes are never high enough, and there’s just no urgency or spark in the storytelling.
RATING: 
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