So why did I decide to read ‘The Sparsholt Affair’ by Alan Hollinghurst ? That’s a question that I asked myself many times as I was reading it !!
Beforehand I had no idea what it was about but for some reason I imagined it was some espionage/political thriller that might bring down a government somewhere. In answer to my own question, there you have your answer, I thought it was something that clearly it wasn’t.
Having said that, if anything I found the book educating and it had me googling a number of facts about the history of the legalisation of a sexual relationship between two men in the United Kingdom, which was only made legal in 1967 following the passing of the Sexual Offences Act which was put before Parliament by the Labour MP Leo Abse and Conservative peer Lord Arran.
The Sparsholt Affair itself was a bit of a confusing read through history, starting at Oxford University at the beginning of World War II where we find wanna be Air Force pilot David Sparsholt desired by a number of close homosexual gentleman, in particular one Evert Dax. We learn about Dax’s obsession with Sparsholt and his feelings of lust which in secret, despite being engaged to his childhood sweetheart Connie, Sparsholt reciprocates. Here ends the first section of the book and we are suddenly flung forward to 1950’s post war England and Sparsholt having had a successful career in the RAF now runs his own engineering firm and is married to Connie with a son called Johnny.
The story starts to focus more on Johnny at this point and, We learn that Johnny has, like his father homosexual tendencies and at such a young age he is unsure how to express them, especially with he falls for Bastien who is holidaying with the Sparsholt’s in Cornwall as part of a student exchange. Bastian teases Johnny about his feelings and leads him on before flirting with young girls to disappoint him. Upon returning to their holiday home from the beach they unexpectedly find David’s car parked outside but no one appears to be in apart from a twitch of some closed curtains.
We then jump forward to the 1970s and learn that David just before the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act is caught in a compromising situation with another man and is sent to prison amid a media storm. Upon his release from prison he remarries this time to his secretary. Johnny meanwhile is in his early 20s with long flowing hair and still desiring his first sexual experience. As an wannabe artist he is working in a antique shop and is introduced to Evert Dax though friends, amd in Evert’s world Johnny meets a number of men and starts a social life around the London gay scene. As time moves on he gets to know Franca amd Una who are looking for a surrogate father for a child and the select Johnny who becomes dad to Lucy.
The story meanders through the 80s amd 90s as we see various characters die off after leading exquisite life styles eventually losing Evert and David and it finishes with Johnny in his late 50s at the wedding of Lucy.
This was a very strange yarn albeit as I said educational. I never really quite knew where I was in the story nor could I always work out exactly what was happening and why. I found it a very tough read and at times got irritated by it as it just seemed to drag on with very little purpose. Sadly as a result despite the things that I learnt from The Sparsholt Affair I would as it is just not my kind of read.
So should you read this on a cruise ? Well some like it and I would probably put those who would like it in the 50+ age group as they can possibly resonate with some of the events mentioned more than younger people. Therefore if The Sparsholt Affair is to be read on a holiday this year, then I suggest you keep it for the days that you are sitting on the Promemade Deck watching the world go by, in between your naps !
More information on Alan Hollinghurst, the author can be found at :
I promise my next book will be one I enjoy even though it’s from an author I’ve never read before.
Happy Reading
Canberralover
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