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A review by zefrog
Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox
3.0
Part suspenseful historical novel, part M/M romance, Seven Summer Nights is set right at the end of WWII at a time when the world is in flux and the newly shattered social order needs rebuilding somehow.
The narrative is divided into two very unbalanced "books" (3/4 v 1/4), themselves divided in chapters. The division feels arbitrary; almost as if two discrete works had been brought together by convenience.
In this novel, Fox presents an engaging gallery of misfits and strays, most of whom have found, or will at some point find, refuge in the summer idyll of a derelict Somerset rectory, presided over by the hulking figure of a handsome and unconventional vicar. The hero of the book, however, is a partially amnesic archeologist; a man who investigates the past but has forgotten some of his own.
In a style often subtly poetic and elegiac, yet very readable, Fox tells of a hidden world coming to light, where minority groups have been shown their power and worth, and start to realise the virtues of solidarity in their refusal to let the erstwhile status quo re-affirm itself. The message of the book is one of buoying escapist hope, even if ultimately we know it does not quite measure up to reality.
Renewal in the face of an oppressive past and the weight of secrets as well as the mysterious powers of labyrinths (but not mazes) are central to the story, although that latter theme is not exploited fully or completely elucidated. The inclusion of vaguely magical elements to the narrative don't add much to the story and could, in my view, have easily been dispensed with.
Despite its being the story of an illicit relationship between two men, there is little sex in the book, most of it happening in the third quarter, with the only scene of penetrative intercourse saved for last as some sort of apotheosis, which it signally fails to be for the reader. Fox is, let's be honest, not very good at sex scenes in any case. They are certainly not sexy and this, together with their rarity, are perhaps due to Fox's lack of enthusiasm for such scenes.
Seven Summer Nights tries, laudably, if more or less successfully, to introduce a little depth into a genre not necessarily renowned for it, but this remains a light-hearted romance with a happy ending, and a certain deference is due to the tropes of the genre. In the end, the book is reasonably successful as an entertainment but perhaps not quite complex enough to fulfil its literary ambitions.
The narrative is divided into two very unbalanced "books" (3/4 v 1/4), themselves divided in chapters. The division feels arbitrary; almost as if two discrete works had been brought together by convenience.
In this novel, Fox presents an engaging gallery of misfits and strays, most of whom have found, or will at some point find, refuge in the summer idyll of a derelict Somerset rectory, presided over by the hulking figure of a handsome and unconventional vicar. The hero of the book, however, is a partially amnesic archeologist; a man who investigates the past but has forgotten some of his own.
In a style often subtly poetic and elegiac, yet very readable, Fox tells of a hidden world coming to light, where minority groups have been shown their power and worth, and start to realise the virtues of solidarity in their refusal to let the erstwhile status quo re-affirm itself. The message of the book is one of buoying escapist hope, even if ultimately we know it does not quite measure up to reality.
Renewal in the face of an oppressive past and the weight of secrets as well as the mysterious powers of labyrinths (but not mazes) are central to the story, although that latter theme is not exploited fully or completely elucidated. The inclusion of vaguely magical elements to the narrative don't add much to the story and could, in my view, have easily been dispensed with.
Despite its being the story of an illicit relationship between two men, there is little sex in the book, most of it happening in the third quarter, with the only scene of penetrative intercourse saved for last as some sort of apotheosis, which it signally fails to be for the reader. Fox is, let's be honest, not very good at sex scenes in any case. They are certainly not sexy and this, together with their rarity, are perhaps due to Fox's lack of enthusiasm for such scenes.
Seven Summer Nights tries, laudably, if more or less successfully, to introduce a little depth into a genre not necessarily renowned for it, but this remains a light-hearted romance with a happy ending, and a certain deference is due to the tropes of the genre. In the end, the book is reasonably successful as an entertainment but perhaps not quite complex enough to fulfil its literary ambitions.