Could this finally be the one that breaks Hollinghurst through in North America? I hope so!
Delighted to include this title in the October edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national lifestyle and culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

4.5 stars
Our Evenings opens with English actor David Win learning of the death of Marc Hadlow, a long-time acquaintance and one-time benefactor. After attending the funeral, Dave reflects on his own life beginning when he first met the Hadlow family in 1961 through to the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Born in England in 1948 to a white British dressmaker and a Burmese father he's never met, Dave receives a scholarship to a top boarding school in 1961 when he is 13 years old. The scholarship is sponsored by the wealthy Hadlow family who have a son, Giles, in the same year at the school who later becomes a right wing politician and proponent of BREXIT - a demagogue who occasionally crosses paths with Dave as he remains in touch with Giles' parents who are patrons of the arts. As Dave relates the story, he meanders through significant events in his life - his school years as a working-class mixed race child in a white institution where he was exposed to the cruelty of classmates but also discovered his talent as an actor, his time at Oxford where he was able to pursue relationships with men for the first time, his move to London and his career as a talented but often overlooked actor, his relationships with lovers and also with his mother, Avril, and her partner, Esme, and his late-in-life marriage after marriage equality legislation is passed in the UK.

A beautifully-written novel by a previous Booker Prize winner, Our Evenings is a moving story that reads like the memoir of a man in late middle age sharing significant memories from his life. The narrative tone is quite gentle yet there are serious issues of class, race and sexuality woven through Dave's story which spans six decades of English history. Dave's life follows the trajectory of the gay rights movement as he comes of age in the '60s when the decriminalization of gay sex was still a matter of political debate, he works in the world of theatre where his sexuality isn't an issue and over decades there is a general shift in the UK and elsewhere toward pride and equal rights and eventually marriage equality. Throughout his lifetime, Dave also experiences both what we would now call microaggressions and outright acts of racism because of his appearance as a mixed race man which also proves to be a not insignificant barrier to his success as an actor.

I found this to be an insightful, touching and, at times, heartbreaking reflection on how quickly a lifetime passes. Dave Win is a character who will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This is my second book of Alan Hollinghurst followed by the Booker prize winning The Line of Beauty where he explored politics and sexuality in the eyes of middle class gay Nick Guest who is living as a guest for a rich family.

Our Evenings starts with the almost identical setting though our narrator and protagonist David Win, who is only a young teenager whose scholarship is paid by the rich art loving Hadlow family, stays with them. The Hadlow family has a similarity to the Fadden family in The Line of Beauty but the Our Evenings, keeping the rich family saga at the backdrop, details of the life of David, a Burmese English actor who was raised by a single mother.

Our Evenings is mostly comprised of social gatherings where strangers and familiar faces mingle, which is a perfect setting as David, a gay ethnic person, could be easily singled out. David narrates his life in a form of memoir. David's life can be divided into the Brampton days as a teenager with his single mother, the Oxford days when he is feeling pressure to excel, the experimental theatre days and the later days as a seasoned actor and writer, continuously living through prejudice and privilege of the white English society. In and out are the stories of the Hadlow, David's mother and his lovers. At the backdrop, the son of the Hadlow, Giles, who kissed David when they were kids, slowly becomes a strong political figure and eventually becomes a Brexit Minister.

This book is funny and poignant. Hollinghurst's writing is masterful. I find that the structure is quite playful including the twist at the end. It was really an enjoyable read.

Thank you for NetGalley for the advance copy of the book!!