Vincent is aristocratic and privileged, frequenting the salons of Paris while France is at war and the city almost deserted of men. In that brutal summer, Vincent’s beauty and precocity captivate two men: Marcel, thirty years his senior, a writer and celebrated socialite; and Arthur, the twenty-one year old son of one of the servants, who is now a soldier at the front.
As both relationships develop Vincent intuitively tries to keep his passions separate, but over the weeks of indolent Parisian summer and far-off war, confidences are made, absences endured, secrets revealed. All of these men will suffer, and Vincent will lose the last vestiges of his childhood innocence.
In the Absence of Men is a stunning first novel to discover this pride season: in its daring in representation and celebration of gay sexuality, in the beauty of its prose and in its delicacy of feeling.
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I am sixteen.
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(Vintage Digital, 31 July 2011, e-book, 176 pages, bought from AmazonKindle)
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I really enjoyed In the Absence of Men though the word ‘enjoy’ is not the best to describe such a heart-breaking, gut-wrenching read. There is a lot packed into this short book and after I finished I felt like I’d read something much longer. This is a quiet, powerful book about love and friendship and it’s devastating at times especially in the final pages. Highly recommended.
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