Mr. Loverman

As a writer at the Guardian once proclaimed, if you don't know Evaristo's work, you should. The Royal Society of Literature Fellow, whose works have been named Book of the Year nine times by various British papers, writes of Barrington Walker, a 74-year-old Antiguan living in London with his wife of 50 years. Despite their long-standing union and their two daughters and grandson, Barrington is unhappy. He wants to leave his wife, who has long suspected his infidelity, for childhood friend Morris, with whom he has maintained an affair for nearly 60 years. As Evaristo details the love between Morris and Barrington while also introducing us to younger characters grappling with their identities, the novel proves to be revolutionary in its honest portrayal of gay men. Evaristo further reveals the barely known phenomenon of intrahomosexual discrimination and differences in how gays and lesbians have been portrayed in various nations and periods in history. The Walker family relationships are particularly intriguing, with no character appearing insensate, and Evaristo's writing is both intelligible and compelling.