London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp

If Band of Thebes had a book club, the next selection would be Jonathan Kemp's novel London Triptych, finally out in North America after its debut wowed British readers way back in 2010. Like Michael Cunningham's triple-threaded riff on Virginia Woolf, London Triptych exists in three eras -- 1890s, 1950s, 1990s -- each echoing the experience of young hustlers and older gay clients, spinning out from the Oscar Wilde rent boy trial. The Hours won a Pulitzer and London Triptych won the Authors Club Prize (established in 1955), besting all its straight competition including the Whitbread/Costa winner for best first novel. Judge Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, said Kemp's book has “astonishingly textured prose [and] wonderfully defined narrative voices.” The book was also shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize and the Polari Book Prize. Clayton Littlewood called it "an amazing book. This is the best gay novel to be published in many years... It is literary fiction at its best." And the Times Literary Supplement praised Kemp's evocation of London, saying the city itself is as much a character as his three protagonists. Read it.

Comments

[Ben R]

i would totally participate in a B-o-T book club! Love all your recommendations!

[Andrew]

I absolutely loved this book.

[Dunnadam.blogspot.com]

Loved this book, agree it's perfect for a club. Read this with Man's World by Rupert Smith, both were similar and the authors toured together.

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