Forced to leave her hometown under a cloud of scandal, Catherine Goggin finds herself pregnant and alone in Dublin. She knows, at sixteen years old, she cannot give her child the start he deserves, and so she entrusts him to a nun to find him a better life.
Cyril Avery is continually reminded by his parents that he is not a real Avery. Adopted at birth he’s never felt he truly belongs in the family. He is looked after but never loved.
And so begins one man’s desperate journey to find his place in the world. A world in which he is not be accepted for who he is.
But, can Cyril find the courage to meet the world head on?
I loved this book and struggled with it in equal measures. My emotions for Cyril were so mixed, pity, loathing and love all fought each other, and I often found myself putting this book down for lengthy periods of time due to this.
Told in 7-year increments between the years of 1945 and 2015 this story covers the many obstacles and dangers growing up as a homosexual in Ireland. Deeply closeted for fear of his life and in love with his best friend, Cyril is forced to cruise public toilets and dingy parks for furtive rendezvous’ and endure traumatic gay bashing resulting in a string of bad decision. Cyril’s character becomes more affable as the story heads into the height of the AIDS epidemic, and I felt at this point my warmest towards him then I had throughout the whole saga. Boyne is careful not to come across as too angry or miserable and inserts, in an often-discordant manner, points of hilarity.
This was an epic story, hard-hitting with some very gritty underlying tones. Unfortunately, it lost a star with me as it felt longwinded and drawn out and at times I found myself skipping a little of the unnecessary waffle.
** Thanks to Random House UK, via NetGalley, for this ARC **