This was a true little gem of a book. A closeted postman in England, Albert Entwistle is forced to retire. He lives alone and self-isolates. He goes on a quest to find a long lost love after retiring. The book was written beautifully and I was really wrapped up in Albert's life. It was funny and heart-warming. Highly recommend!

A quirky, funny and heartwarming tale of the secret inner life of a British postman. Uplifting and reflective of a not-so-long ago decade that stands in stark contrast to present day. This novel has a lot to reveal about loneliness and optimism.

This is a book that sneaks up on you, where you say I’ll stop at the end of this page, which becomes the end of this chapter, then another chapter, until you’re almost finished, then you close the book and feel like starting all over again.

If you need a book that restores your faith in humans, this is it.

To start with....I am only giving this book five stars because I can't give it ten. I absolutely loved The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle. I started it a few weeks ago, read the first 25% or so and then put it down because the start of the book was a little too depressing for me at the time. Today I decided to start reading it again and I devoured the rest of the book in one evening.

This is the story of Albert Entwistle, a shy postal worker approaching his 65th birthday. He is a deeply closeted gay man living in England. He avoids contact with people as much as possible and lives alone. Upon finding out that he is being forced to retire he finds his life upended and finds unexpected change.

50 years ago Albert loved deeply and it ended horribly. Now Albert sets out on a quest to find his lost love. And along the way is changed by, and changes, the lives of the people around him.

The book is wonderfully written and the characters are delightfully drawn. There's a gentle ebb and flow to the book as the story moves along. I found myself desperate to find out what happened and equally desperate for the book not to end.

I absolutely adore this book and highly recommend it!

Albert Entwistle is a nearly retired postman who keeps to himself painfully so. His social anxiety jumps at you through each page. The author does a great job breaking down his barriers and getting to the heart of his secrets - Albert is a closeted gay man through the years when it wasn't safe or appropriate to come out. After seeing his life flash before him, he decided to take braves steps and lets people in slowly and notices that yes, over the years the world has changed and become more accepting.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

I honestly enjoyed this book so much. Albert is the perfect protagonist, and it was so awesome to see him come out of his shell and truly accept himself for who he was. I loved his friendship with Edith and Nicole, and him getting a chance to really know and interact with his coworkers. Grace was a bit of a sore spot for me, as I just went through the exact same thing as Albert, and couldn’t believe how perfectly my experience and his lined up. It really drew me closer to him, and made me feel a bit more protective of Albert and his feelings. I’m so glad that we as readers were able to take this journey with Albert, but also with Nicole, Edith, and even Marjorie. Albert finding himself, and finding happiness on the way to retirement had me cheering him on at every turn. I absolutely plan to buy a copy of this when it’s published, and I don’t say that about everything that I read. Definitely going to recommend this book to as many people as I can convince to read it!

What a lovely, heartfelt, funny, sad but overall uplifting book this was.

The story of Albert and the search for the love of his life, George, who he last saw 50 years ago is wonderful. The characters are great, well rounded and lifelike, and the actual story is a nice roller coaster, one that you would like to get on and ride again, even though you will no doubt have tears in your eyes along the way.

Matt Cain's writing propels the story along, and is a pleasure to ride.

This is a great read.

This book is so not the usual kind of book I read, so when I requested it, I was mostly looking for something out of my comfort zone. And I'm so glad I did! This was such a sweet story all about second chances and living your truest self in life. I adored the story so much and I was surprised at how easy it was to relate to Albert despite being so different from him(for starters, I'm over 40 years younger than him). The book starts off really sad and made me want to tear up at times at how awful his life was at the start, but Albert really shined through it and was somehow able to find himself despite such harsh moments.

That was perhaps my favorite thing about the story: Albert himself. Though he went through so much and was dealt with so much hatred, he also has so much determination and, though he is miserable for a time, he doesn't stop until he can find his happiness. This book is so sad and tender that it's hard to be happy by the end of it, but the author walked that balance perfectly. It felt true and beautiful and I was so pleased with how it ended. Albert is a wonderful character and I commend Matt Cain for being able to write a character who could be so relatable to so many.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

im going to be screaming about this book for years to come, I just know it. the prose is so lovely, it feels so very lived-in and cozy, a true comfort read. starting off, albert is just a slightly curmudgeonly man who likes things a certain way and prefers to be left alone, but the slow unfurling to the reader of alberts deep loneliness is so real and painful and beautifully written. writing the book in past tense but the flashbacks in present tense is INSPIRED, it puts the reader right there in those moments, just as albert is when thinking of them. albert slowly finding his people (and his search for his long lost first love) had me absolutely weeping. and the way queer history is woven in, i just. bravo. a truly incredible book with so much heart.

taylor swift vibe: the 1 (and also it’s nice to have a friend, but i just used that one so)

recommended for: I can’t imagine a single person i wouldn’t recommend this book to, to be honest.

if you’ve read it please yell with me about: every! single! word!

(thank you to netgalley and kensington books for the arc in exchange for my honest review.)


this review will be reposted to my Instagram story on the publication date

I loved the cover of this book and the story sounded great, but I am sorry to say I didn’t finish it. I didn’t enjoy the characters and thought there were too many stereotypes. I did like the specific Northern English references though as I am from the north of England originally.
I have ordered it for the library because I know other people will enjoy it.

I was so glad that this book wasn’t disappointing. When I saw the book cover, it had caught my attention. After I checked the description, I felt delighted to read this book.

Not just this book had given me pure joy, but also it had brought me happy and sad tears. At 50% of the book, I struggled with my self-control. I was so excited to know how the story will end. Nonetheless, I made a choice to enjoy Albert’s journey. And, I really loved every page of it.

It was exceptionally impactful and moving for me. For some reason, I felt that this resonated in me. While I was reading the book, there were instances that I reconnected with my past. During my adolescence, I experienced identity crisis. I came from a Catholic exclusive school for girls. That time, being attracted to same sex is utterly not tolerated in the school. It was relatable to me about the scenes from the book - secret meetups and letters.

Moreover, Albert stole my heart. He was such an adorable book character that made me wanted to jump in the book to hug him. His journey to find his long lost love was truly emotional, funny and life-changing. For Albert in this story, he had definitely discovered that love can be wrapped in many different ways. Actually, the book characters are quirky. They are all likeable and adorable.

I can’t believe myself that I am still teary-eyed while typing this review. What a way to feel the spirit of Love Month this year!

Thank you @netgalley and to the publisher, Kensington Books for providing me an ebook. It was such a great opportunity to enjoy this feel good book.

If I could rate this book more than 5 stars, I would. Cute and heartwarming story about a gay man making new friends and coming out. I absolutely loved the ending and I 100% recommend this to others. I cried a few times while reading

What a lovely read! I will admit that I was attracted first to this book's cover, and then to the description, and it lived up to that first positive impression. Albert's story was both sad and redemptive, and I loved reading about it. My library will be ordering this title to add to our growing LGBTQ section, and I look forward to recommending it to our patrons.

Criticizing this book feels like kicking a puppy; it's just so well-intentioned. It hasn't been very long since being gay meant shame, isolation, and possibly criminal persecution, and that's an important fact to remember, both so we can celebrate how far we've come and make sure we don't slide backwards. I just wish the vehicle through which all of this is communicated was a little more nuanced.

The titular Albert is a reclusive, deeply closeted British postman who is on the cusp of retirement. He delivers the mail with his head down and a few trite phrases to keep from engaging with anyone ("the mail won't deliver itself!"). Albert has hidden away from the world for decades, ever since his budding romance with classmate George ended disastrously and his father's virulent homophobia convinced Albert he could never reveal that part of himself. Years spent caring for a bitter, demanding elderly mother further isolated him.

But after one more traumatic loss, Albert resolves to make dramatic changes to find happiness in the years he has left. All it takes is a a book and some YouTube videos about building up your self-confidence, and Albert is suddenly a new man. He opens up to his co-workers, helps a young Black single mom who lives on his postal route, and chips in to send a terminally ill young boy to Disneyworld (yes, really!). Most importantly, with help of his new smartphone and friends, he sets out to find George and see if it's not too late to start over with the love of his life.

The flashback scenes to the 1970s in which George is regularly beaten up for looking too effeminate while Albert tries to keep their relationship a secret in the face of his father's constant harangues about the "disgusting" nature of "perverts," are genuinely horrifying and sobering. There's no doubt that Albert lived in a closeted hell for too many years. But it doesn't feel at all realistic that his turnaround happens so quickly and easily. Everyone he encounters is supportive, and his coworkers are so delighted with his newly revealed sexuality that they throw him a "congratulations on coming out" party. He's further blessed by the presence of a gay couple who move in next door and become his ambassadors to gay culture. Sure Albert deserves a HEA, but does it have to be so treacly sweet?

Occasionally Albert stops and thinks about all of the other men like him who were forced to stay closeted, and he vows to make dramatic changes in their memory. These are very moving moments, but they only highlight the fact that Albert feels more like a symbol than a real person. In fact, the postscript to the American edition of the book contains several brief interviews that the Matt Cain had with older gay men, who talk about their experiences living in an era when homosexuality was still a crime. The distinct personalities of each man comes through clearly and their stories are fascinatingly diverse. I kinda, sorta wish Cain had written the whole book about them instead of about Albert.

ARC received from Net Galley. This book was published in Great Britain in 2021 and will be released in the U.S. in May 2022.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is a charming and heart-warming tale of found family, finding yourself late in life and lost love. Filled with tender moments, it’s the story of a postman, who nearing retirement age, realises that he has nothing to live for beyond his job and sets out to form connections with those around him.

Albert Entwistle is a postman in a town in Northern England. At 65 years old, he’s reaching mandatory retirement age and is due to sit back and live a quiet life. This makes him wonder what he’s going to do with his life, leading him to the sad realisation that there’s no one who truly cares for him.

Albert steadily makes connections: the colleagues he barely knows, the elderly lady who lives alone and receives no mail, the young gay couple recently moved to the neighbourhood, a young single mother. While it’s the latter that becomes the closest relationship, it’s the new arrivals to the neighbourhood that stir up other, long-buried feelings within Albert, setting him on a quest to find his lost love: the boy he dated in his youth, who he left because of his fears of his homophobic father’s reaction.

It's a beautiful tale, rich in Northern charm and very much recommended.

This is fine. It's very saccharine, so not so much my taste. Albert and his coming out story is adorable, but the treacle aspect is cranked up to 11.

This is one of those novels when you finish reading, you still think about, and miss reading.

Through a series of incidents, Albert, a postman, who has been closeted his entire life, has to come out just before his 65th birthday. At first, it is small steps, only telling a few people that he feels he can trust.

And as the story progresses he begins to remember a time when he was happy, when he was in love. Back when being Gay was a criminal offence and his father, a policeman, told him no son of his would ever be something like that.

The author said, when writing this, he thought of how in his lifetime being Gay went from being something done in the dark, and hidden, to being celebrated. He thought how it must be for someone to finally come out at 65 and how startling it would have to have been.

This is all taking place in the North of England, with all the expressions, and accents, and things that I had to stop and look up, from time to time, but what a treat to “meet” Albert, and all his friends along the way.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

This book is truly one of the most disappointing reads for me in recent months, which is a tragedy because I was so excited for it.
-
The biggest issue that this book falls into is mismarketing in my opinion. It is marketed as a story reminiscent of A Man Called Ove, admittedly a very heavy book, but which brings an added light and romance into the story. However, I was not prepared for how heavy this book got and how quickly it got as heavy as it did. All at once it felt like everything was just thrown into the text, and it made such a hard to read.
-
Characters were going through traumatic experiences left and right, and it was just really hard to get through. I did it enjoy parts of the story though, especially the last 30%. It truly received a life of its own and that help me to enjoy the story more.
-
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to me in exchange for my honest opinion.

I unfortunately decided to not finish this book. I was really excited about this book and while it delivered in some aspects, I kept wishing the story would go in different directions.
My biggest problem was that I didn’t see how one thing led to another. I really loved Albert as a character, but I didn’t understand why he made the decisions he did when he did and his character growth seemed to come from nowhere. I could see which event caused it, but not how it caused it.
It definately wasn’t all bad. I loved Albert and the other characters you really got to spend time with, but it wasn’t what I wanted

Last year I read several books with grumpy older queer men in them ('Less' and 'Under the Whispering Door,' to name two of them), and when I read the description of this book on Netgalley, I knew I had to pick it up! The premise: Albert is nearing 65 and has spent all his life in the same town, working for the Royal Mail. His life is solitary - he lives alone with his cat Gracie, eats the same food every week, clings to his routine. When he is forced into retirement after decades of loyal service, he has to examine his life: how distanced he has become from those around him, who he is without a job to define him, and how to come to terms with the fact that he is a gay man who let his one great love, George, get away.

What follows is a delightfully saccharine and utterly charming journey, where he befriends locals, visits new places, learns to use a cell phone, explores manscaping(!), and learns how to both forgive himself and ask for forgiveness. Although everything seemed to happen a little toooo easily, I was still charmed by this sweet book. Books with older protagonists are harder to find, especially with queer themes, and it was really nice to fall in love with old, shy Albert and follow along on his journey!