Every now and again a new voice appears, someone whose stories speak to us on many levels. This first novel by Jonathan Kemp is one of those books. It builds its slow impetus, turning each story by a degree so they all end up oddly aligned by the end of the book. It’s the story of three different men, from three different periods of history who all have a few things in common; their attraction to men, their lives in flux and a blunt internal honesty about their decadent exploited situations.  The patchwork cross over of their lives and destinies are explored with a voice that sometimes reminded me of Alan Hollingworth and other times soared into the metaphorically agonised realms of Elizabeth Smart, and that’s no faint praise.

If I’m honest I didn’t like the book to start but then it caught me off guard and the best authors always do that, they creep up on you and someone you thought was nice but dull suddenly shines with a brilliant light that coaxes you on to the next page, and the next. Kemp has this understated seductiveness and I had to temper myself to ensure I didn’t rip through this book as I wanted to savour it.

The three stories, each narrated by the protagonist are very different in style, composition and content but each has an genuine voice of their own, none of them the same, but all similar, each outlook vastly different but the perspective consistent.  It’s a fun idea to wrap a story round and although I was resistant to it, it won me over. That and the humour, delight and plain raunchy writing too, it’s rare to come across a serious writer who can wrap a bit of filth into his work, and Kemp manages to turn his talented hand to some delightfully sauciness while he weaves the stories, he’s also not shy of focusing on uncomfortable truths and this anchors and adds a depth to a book that might otherwise have floated off on it’s own cleverness.

One of the stories is sad, the other a raunchy reflective hop through Victorian London and the third retrospectively set in the kaleidoscopic delirium of London in the 1990’s, it’s a great blend, and allows the characters to speak their own feelings, experiences and dreams and shows how comparable these things can be even from men separated by gulfs of wealth, opportunity or status. Betrayal is the great leveler in this book and sex it’s ever-ready bulldozer.

Kemp is an academic and this shows in his attention to historical detail and his ear for sometimes salty dialogue, his summoning up of late Victorian London, 1950’s suburbia and the underground gay scene of London is touch perfect and I enjoyed his consideration for the readers satisfaction.  His ‘he-whore’ pimp creation ‘Taylor’ is a delightful grotesque who deserves his own book.

I didn’t want this excellent book to end and that’s the greatest flattery to any new author, so lets hope that Mr Jonathan Kemp keeps up this momentum and delights us with the products of his vivid and insightful imagination for some while yet.

Out now: £7.99
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