It might not be exactly true but I have always thought it takes almost as much effort to write a short story as it does to extend the work to book-length. Even further creativity is required to come up with a collection of stories to publish. Is it more talent or just different talent? Regardless, Neil Bartlett does it. In a marketplace that lacks for publishers and readers of short fiction, Bartlett is a welcome drink in the desert.
The stories have a few threads connecting one to another, sometimes challenging your memory of stories you just read, but it is not a necessity for appreciating them individually. The titles are addresses that sound bland but legitimate. The first, “14 Yeomans Mews,” presents a doctor relocating to a new address during the COVID-19 pandemic. The connection to the current epidemic and the one he has already lived through is a reflexive nod to the similarities. He remembers his 15 year-old self and a burgeoning sexuality that turns into a formative relationship with a 29 year-old. The relationship’s enduring impact is detailed thanks to his remarkable emotional memory. I was reminded of a film from the 1990s, “For a Lost Soldier” in its frank, touching retelling of a story about a soldier and a Dutch teenager during WWII.
Telling more than that defeats the pleasure of discovering a lovingly constructed story. This applies to all of them. The bits of factual information you read do not spoil the fun of discovering where the narrative leads.
“103 Cavendish Mansions” is a funny, slightly gritty tale of a character referred to as Miss Roberta, buying a mattress for his council flat near a club that he frequents. “103 Cavendish Mansions (again)” resets the characters to the same address in the 1890s. The main characters in both are down on their luck and willing to stretch the truth to their own ends just to survive, but not necessarily thrive. The latter story features a teacher whose students are immigrants. The teacher is smitten with a young Italian man who agrees to pose for photographs that are used on a larger project.
“72 Seaton Point” presents a civil partnership ceremony for lesbians. Here we are in a high rise that sounds like council flats but set in a different time, with multiple characters, and clues revealed through family histories.
“203 Camden Road” gives us a straight woman, newlywed, pregnant, who is a bit obsessed with her mysterious neighbor. The neighbor shares the same name as her husband (Lenny/Leonard). The setting is the 1960s when her curiosity of the neighbor’s proclivities could lead to potentially grim outcomes.
A priest in “8 Hamlet Gardens” sees his doppelgänger in a chapel at Heathrow. He is later called to the aid of a refugee detainee. The priest’s partner works in social services and the reader glimpses the never-ending calls for assistance.
Roger is a widower and the narrator of “40 Marine Parade.” His sadness and grief from the loss of his lover Todd leads down a self-destructive path that is reversed by meeting a stranger at the grocery market. The fact that someone is writing about older gay men navigating life’s obstacles is refreshing because it is so rare.
Some might think there is an overarching theme to the stories. I prefer to view the stories as distinct, with different characters and situations, yet all ring true. The topics (equality, sexuality, immigration, refugees, pandemic, homophobia) remain the same. The time, location and characters differ.
Author Neil Bartlett has been making rule-breaking theatre and performances since 1983. After a controversial early career, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 1994; since leaving the Lyric in 2005 major cultural producers he has worked for include the National, the Abbey in Dublin, the Bristol Old Vic , the Manchester Royal Exchange, the Edinburgh International, Manchester International, Brighton, Aldeburgh and Holland Festivals, the Wellcome Foundation and Tate Britain.
Neil is also an acclaimed author, with a whole shelf of novels, plays, adaptations and translations to his name. His most recent novel, Address Book, was published by Inkandescent in 2021 – and his very first novel, Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall (1990) , has just been republished by Profile as a Serpents Tail Classic
ADDRESS BOOK is published by Inkandescent
Review by STEPHEN COY Queerguru Contributor STEPHEN COY has been an avid reader all his (very long) life? and is finally putting his skills to good use. He lives in Provincetown full time with his husband Jim, having finally given up the bright lights of Boston and now haunts the streets mumbling to himself that no one reads anymore
