A beautiful, melancholic book about love, grief, and remembrance. Gorgeous prose and a compelling plot make this a swift and easy, yet eminently memorable, delight of a book

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

"The Old Haunts" is a very touching queer coming of age story tackling grief and loss. Jamie's parents have died and while on a trip with his boyfriend Alex in Scotland, he's remembering growing up, remembering his parents, remembering hiding his sexuality from him. The book might not be to everyone's liking because it is not loud or flashy, it's quiet and poetic and ponders more than having a fast-paced plot. I enjoyed it though. It feels very real too, almost autobiographic but I of course have no idea if that is true (it also doesn't matter).

4 stars

A haunting and atmospheric novella about grief, memory, family and coming of age. Well written and engaging.

This is a great exploration of grief and sexuality and how complicated familial relationships can be when you're queer. my one complaint is that it was at times a little difficult to tell when a chapter was taking place, as this story is told non-linearly. Other than that, I found this very moving and will likely come back to it in the future.

Do you ever read a book that is short in length, and when you finish, you just sit there stunned and baffled that a slim volume just packed all of that into it and left you with so many feelings? This is where I am after finishing Allan Radcliffe's "The Old Haunts"
The story is coming of age story, but one of grief. We meet Jamie, whos parents are recently deceased, and his boyfriend Alex, in rural Scotland. The death of Jamies parents is so present, it envelopes the couple, and we are given the gift of sifting through Jamie's memories. What I can best describe as small bursts of present times and vignettes of the past.
Radcliffe's writing blew me away with such subtle details that brought a very realistic touch to the book. I won't give things away, but just by the mere mention of movement of characters was so impactful into showing the dynamic between them.
This isn't just a beautifully nuanced book about grieving the loss of a loved one, but also the loss of yourself, wonderfully expressing grief of not coming out and not being your true self. When the opportunity is gone, where are we left?
I feel like I am not doing this book justice here, so you know what to do...get a copy and read it!

A beautiful, tender short novel, set against the glorious backdrop of the wild Scottish landscape (which plays its part in setting the atmosphere). It's a slow-moving story of Jamie, coming to terms with the recent loss of both parents in short succession, and his actor boyfriend Alex. Full of the 'what if' questions we all ask ourselves at moments of loss, this is a quiet joy to read, full of emotional punch and wonderfully written. Short but powerful, this deserves to be read by anyone who cares about storytelling. 5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

My thanks to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for an e-ARC of this novel.
Fairlight is a newish publisher out of Oxford, who will promote new young talent.
Jamie and his boyfriend Alex head off to Scotland for a week, hoping to help Jamie heal from the recent death of both of his beloved parents. The location they choose is a small town Jamie remembers going to with his parents when he was a child, staying at a white cottage they then search for in the area. The "old haunt".
The story of Jamie's youth, his relationship with his parents, and being an outsider (gay, a loner [safer that way!] and artistic, in the closet until college) is told in a series of flashbacks in this short novel. Well done dealing with all of these aspects throughout the book.
If a book about death and grief can be called "charming" this is it. Quick "pencil sketches" of his life in college and in his early 20's, but Radcliffe gets his point across.

I lost my mother in my late 20s and my father about a decade later, and the pain of losing the two people I was closest to for most of my life was devastating and crippling. I don’t think I realized how much Allan Radcliffe’s new novel, “The Old Haunts” is steeped in the protagonist’s memories of his parents and his grief after losing them both.

Radcliffe’s novel is centred on Jamie’s life after his most recent loss: his mother’s death after a car accident she’s involved in. But Jamie’s memories are written about so beautifully that it’s clear to see that Jamie’s small, three-person family is a stronger unit than he realizes. Jamie’s memories of his parents and his conversations about them with his boyfriend Alex and Kit the woman he’s renting a holiday home from are beautifully written and evoke such strong emotions in the reader that Jamie’s pain is palpable.

This dual timeline story is heartbreaking, but it is also full of hope, especially as Jamie makes the conscious decision to both revisit his hometown and “keep going”. Jamie finds solace in his relationship with Alex and his friendships and determines to return to his work as an artist in order to do justice to the memory of his mother and father.
I loved this story about an incredibly beautiful and healthy relationship that a son has with his parents. The story is an homage to parents who want only the best for their only child without spoiling them with material goods but rather with unconditional love and support. And with a large body of work being published about unhealthy parent/child relationships, this felt like a breath of fresh air!

If you’re a fan of reading about healthy familial and romantic love, healing after grief, or bildungsroman stories, then this might be for you!

*3.5

Many thanks to NetGalley and Fairlight Books for allowing me to read an ARC of Allan Radcliffe’s touching novel, “The Old Haunts” in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

This was a very quick read -- set in the present, Jamie navigates the complex grief he feels after his parents have both passed away. Structurally, Jamie has flashbacks to moments in his childhood and adolescence surrounding his parents and how they impacted his life.

The writing was excellent. Radcliffe's prose is controlled, yet descriptive and evocative. The spare prose works well in the context of the work being very short overall.

Themes of guilt, sorrow, homophobia, and racism are explored -- albeit cursorily due to the length of the book. Grief is at the core of the novel, and this shows.

There is very little plot overall -- the modern-day part of the story lasts the totality of about a week, with the bulk of the book being "old haunts," -- i.e., vignettes from the past.

Overall, I was hoping there would be a more profound takeaway when all was said and done, but the ending comes abruptly. It felt that statements were made (i.e., grief is non-linear, grief is filled with guilt, grief is a life-long process), but that overall, there was minimal all-encompassing purpose that tied all the stories together.

Would recommend to anyone seeking a quick read who enjoys stories filled with melancholia, reminiscing, and introspection.

The Old Haunts
Thank you to @netgalley and @fairlightbooks for the eARC of The Old Haunts which will be published September 19, 2023.
A short novella of a young man coming to terms with the death of his parents.
Jamie and his boyfriend Alex are staying in rural Scotland and Jamie’s grief looms large over their stay. His mind is flooded with childhood memories and he spends his time reminiscing about his life growing up in Edinburgh and London. His inability to share his true self with his parents haunts him and as he looks back there is immense sadness about words not spoken. There is so much life he has yet to live without them. I enjoyed how Radcliffe’s writing is almost dreamlike, moving from past to present. If you are after an action packed story, this is not that. One of those quiet, quite sad, introspective, pieces that is really well written.
I quite liked this!
4/5

Loved this collection of fabulously evocative memories, strung together to form a novel about a young Scottish man coming to terms with the loss of his parents, whilst also navigating a new relationship. The prose is haunting and provides a wonderful window into complex emotions without being sentimental or cloying. As Jamie explores his memories a picture emerges of his growing up as a sensitive young gay man trying to exist in a loud rough school and world.

With thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Genuinely surprised at how much heart has been filled into a sparse 91 pages. The interplay between past and present, set against the Scottish highlands, was hauntingly tender yet bleakly poignant. It's a story that will stay with me long after I've put it down.

"The Old Haunts" by Allan Radcliffe is a beautifully crafted novel that delves into the complexities of grief, love, identity, and memory. With spare yet evocative prose, Radcliffe weaves a poignant coming-of-age tale that tugs at the heartstrings and invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of loss and longing.

At the heart of the story is Jamie, who is grappling with the recent loss of both his parents. During a stay at a rural steading in Scotland with his boyfriend Alex, Jamie's grief becomes a focal point as he confronts memories of his past. The narrative is interwoven with Jamie's recollections of his upbringing in Edinburgh and his experiences in London during his formative years. The exploration of Jamie's sexuality is seamlessly integrated into the narrative, providing an added layer of complexity to his journey of self-discovery.

The novel navigates between past and present, offering glimpses into Jamie's relationships, aspirations, and the poignant moments that have shaped his life. Radcliffe's prose is both delicate and powerful, capturing the emotional nuances of Jamie's experiences with sensitivity and authenticity.

The characters are well-drawn and relatable, particularly Jamie, whose introspective nature and emotional depth make him a compelling protagonist. The supporting cast, including Alex and Jamie's parents, contribute to the richness of the narrative, each with their own distinct presence and impact on Jamie's life.

"The Old Haunts" is not only a story of personal growth and acceptance but also a meditation on the passage of time and the weight of memory. Radcliffe's exploration of grief is raw and unflinching, allowing readers to connect with Jamie's pain and healing process on a profound level.

This debut novel is a testament to Radcliffe's skill as a storyteller, with its elegant prose, nuanced characters, and exploration of universal themes. "The Old Haunts" is a touching and introspective read that lingers in the mind, inviting readers to contemplate the enduring impact of the past on the present and the beauty of finding solace in shared experiences of love and loss.

Sometimes, when parents pass away, it can feel like your childhood has died along with them. For queer adults, whose childhoods, even when raised by loving parents, were often marked by secrets and shame, this double passing, the death of the chance to be a full and complete person in your parents’ eyes, can be a greater loss, a heavier burden, than expected. That is where this delightful novella starts, where childhood love, happiness, and regret become overwhelmed by a grief that is difficult to express. There isn’t a lot of plot, per se, its exactly what is promised in the blurb…. Our protagonist’s parents have died, his boyfriend arranges a holiday in the countryside to help take time to process his loss, and he tries to do just that, even as his boyfriend is called back to the city for work. But plot isn’t the point, nor is some revelatory, instantaneous catharsis. The novella has a real sense of place, the isolation of the country is reflected in the language and the tone, and it all fits together really well. There is a bit of a dreamlike quality, as we move back and forth between the present and memories of the past as well as stories of the past without clear delineation, not in an intentionally confusing way but in the way that a mind sunk in grief is living in more than one place at once. This novella is a portrait of grief and love, which is to say of life, with the twinge of that special melancholy of those looking at middle-age on the horizon while still tasting the lingering sweetness of youth. Real transformations are often the quiet ones, the ones that sneak up on us without announcing themselves, and this story shares what one of those may feel like.

All the secondary characters had enough details to let them feel grounded, like more than placeholders, and our protagonist felt rounded and complete, even though we experienced his whole life in snippets, which in some ways made him more of a mirror for the audience than a real person. It is hard to draw a reader in when presenting a subdued setting with uncomplicated prose without any strong plot to drive the narrative, when the central conflict has already happened and the story is all denouement, and yet this novella mostly succeeds. I was left wanting a little more, finishing the story and being satisfied but also feeling like I had heartstrings that were anticipating being plucked yet remained stilled and quiet. It is hard to say what or where I would have wanted more though, as this story is really well-balanced, felt compelling while I was in the middle of it, and feels complete. If you are in the mood for some light introspection and grappling with ideas of self and happiness through the lens of grief and loss there is a lot of comfort, though not necessarily answers, to be found in this cozy story.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Fairlight Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

whew, that was tougher than i had expected. don’t get me wrong, the writing was beautiful and i liked it very much — but it made me a little anxious at times, and i even cried a little, which can be a good thing, but it all felt a little too cathartic for my current state of mind. still, it’s a pretty much fantastic book, and i would recommend it to those ready to tackle its main topics.

Grief is like a violin, and Allan Radcliffe played on it with extreme delicacy. Unfortunately, my ears were deaf for it. It wasn't bad, rather quite charming, yet it didn't get to me like I wished.

Allan Radcliffe’s ‘The Old Haunts’ is a stunning debut that flicks between past ands present to tell the story of recently bereaved Jamie, as he embarks on a rural get-away with his actor boyfriend Alex, reflecting on his recent loss. In what becomes an intimate exploration of grief and queer identity, Jamie reminisces on his early years in Edinburgh and his twenty-somethings spent in London, and how images of his late parents are interweaved through these memories.

Radcliffe's prose is probably the most compelling element of 'The Old Haunts', purely because of how stunning it was. The author was able to convey the intimacy of Jamie and Alex's relationship, the intense grief associated with parental loss and the various settings - rural Scotland, Edinburgh in the 1990s and London - so beautifully. It is also rare to find narratives which can so seamlessly move between past and present, however Radcliffe's prose was so seamless at weaving memories into Jamie's present in rural Scotland. Unfortunately, whilst I found the prose in 'The Old Haunts' to overall be beautiful - this is genuinely where I believe Radcliffe excels - there was some odd phrasing that I just couldn't get past. Again, this is only for a small percentage of the novel, but I felt that some wording was questionable, such as referring to Alex's teeth as 'fangs' early in the book.

Admittedly, this novel did not have a great amount of plot, however, this is not something i usually find essential in fiction, and there didn't necessarily need to be excess plot points for this novel to work, as it was more character and theme focused story. Perhaps this can attest to how much I enjoyed my reading experience of 'The Old Haunts', in that I wasn't ready for the story to end, but I do have to comment on how underwhelming the ending was. It felt abrupt, as if the author didn't quite know where and how they wanted to finish Jamie's story. This is probably my greatest complaint about 'The Old Haunts' because I felt that compared to the rest of the novel, the ending just fell short of my high expectations.

Whilst I overall thought this was a really sweet novel that was able to effectively explore the central themes of grief and coming of age through beautiful prose, I am unable to say that 'The Old Haunts' was that special or memorable for me. I can see, though, that there will be a certain demographic who will perhaps be able to engage more deeply with this text. However, I am super excited to see tender queer fiction re-defining the Scottish canon. It's what we all needed!

Thank you NetGalley and Fairlight Books for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review!

A compact, but absolutely gorgeous book. Radcliffe's prose is beautiful, and he’s created such real, vivid characters I felt as if they could step off the page and into the room. The novel completely immerses you, sweeping you along in the ebb and flow feelings Jamie experiences as we move back and forth through present day and memory. I related to so many elements of this book - how it feels to grieve a parent, growing up as a working class queer person, trying to hide, feeling lost after moving to London, watching your parents age, and the ephemera of memory - Radcliffe explores all these topics with exquisite honesty. Threaded through is Jamie’s relationship with his boyfriend, Alex which is just beautifully, achingly tender, and again felt so real. The novel is short, and perfectly formed - my only critique would be that I could happily have lived in this world, stayed with these characters for longer! I adored this - I would highly recommend it and will certainly be following Radcliffe’s career with interest.

Many thanks to the publisher for sending me an advanced reader copy of this book for review.

This book is really a series of short stories following Jamie, a young man on vacation with his newish boyfriend Alex. Jamie recently lost both of his parents in rather quick succession, and is struggling with the immense grief weighing him down. We spend time both with Jamie, Alex, and Kit (their AirBnB host), and in the past in the various memories Jamie has with his parents. In these memories, we get to learn about the complex, sometimes troubled yet kind people Jamie's parents were, and we grow to understand the deep feeling of loss Jamie has.

This story was sweet, it really was. But I feel like it was more of an attempt at endearment that didn't quite land. We got to spend a lot of intimate time with our small cast of characters, and I genuinely enjoyed learning more about them. I loved learning more about the complex relationship and love Jamie had for his parents. I appreciated Jamie and Alex's "new boyfriend" relationship, it was really well executed. And I loved Kit, their host who seemed so genuine and kind.

However, there were a few stylistic choices that I think interfered with my enjoyment of the book. Firstly, few characters really had a distinct voice. Kit and Jamie's father come to mind as very unique, but everyone else blended together in tone. While this isn't a huge deal, it became troublesome with the formatting of dialogue. You see, the author rarely included markers such as 'Jamie remarked' or 'Kit inquired' or 'Alex asked', opting instead to allow the context of the passage indicate who is speaking. But because most of the characters didn't have a distinct voice, I was often confused as to who exactly was saying what. It wasn't until the middle of the book that I realized that it was Alex who was actually a person of color and not Jamie, and it was Jamie's old house they were hoping to visit, not Alex's.

This was further complicated by the fact that the dialogue was so stilted and inauthentic, it felt like an entire book of people talking past each other. No one seemed to really be engaging in conversation, rather just speaking at whomever was in the room with them. There were other stylistic inclusions that I suppose were Jamie's thoughts appearing mid-passage, but they felt so out of place and lacking context, I felt that they took me out of the narrative, questioning "What does that mean? Where is that from? Why is that there?"

Lastly, and this is more of a funny observation, but it took me until the very end of this book to realize that Alex was not a vampire. Yes, really. In the first chapter (titled 'We don't drink beer'), Kit says to the boys "you two...need to get inside and get your beers in the fridge" with Alex's response being:

"'Oh, we don't brink... beer,' Alex said, flashing his fangs"

I had to end up looking up if 'fangs' was some UK slang term (I thought I was familiar with English slang until I read this book), and it doesn't seem to be. Was Alex flashing his... teeth... in response? Why would he do that? Why would they be referred to as fangs? Why was specific emphasis put on 'beer' implying that it was something else they drink? So bizarre it stuck with me for the rest of the book.

All in all, I found this to be okay. It was short, and it was sweet. I just wish some of those aspects had been polished up a bit more so I wasn't pulled out of the narrative as often. Otherwise, I think it would have really resonated with me.

This story focuses on Jamie and his boyfriend Alex amongst a beautiful Scottish backdrop. Jamie has recently lost both his parents and he is not dealing with his grief and loss well. He reminisces through previous interactions from his childhood to his university life and how he was not completely honest with them regarding his feelings and sexuality and now it is too late to be his authentic self around them.

This story was really well written, moving almost seamlessly between past and present to bring us a storyline present day as well as poignant memories and the emptiness of loss that Jamie wasn’t ready to deal with.

The only negative I could find with this story is that it is only 91 pages and I could have swallowed a lot more of Jamie and Alex.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight Moderns for an advanced copy of this story in exchange for an open and honest review.