Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

 

This is the story of David Win, an Englishman whose life stretched from the late 1940's to the present.  David is the son of an English mother who is a dressmaker and a Burmese father whom he never met.  David and his mother live in a small English town but his intelligence and hard work nets him a scholarship at a private school.  He meets his benefactors who remain in his life for the entire span.  Their son, who is at the same school, is a bully who later rises in government and is famous for his Brexit stand.  

David has known he is gay since he was a boy but at that time, there is not much opportunity to be open about it.  We learn of the various loves of his life but they all occur after his time at university.  David has also shone as an actor and makes that his career.  We learn about not only David's life but the life and changes of England during this time period.

Alan Hollinghurst has won a Booker with his 2004 novel The Line Of Beauty.  His writing pulls in the reader even if huge events don't take place.  It takes an extraordinary writer to make the telling of a life interesting and Hollinghurst does exactly that.  The reader is fascinated by David's life over the decades, his loyalty to his family and friends and his quest for love that is rewarded by a husband he ends his time with.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.