Pansies

Alfie returns to his home town of South Shields (North of England) for his best friends' wedding. An investment banker, big, muscled and tattooed he looks the typical alpha Northern male, but he's also gay, something that his working class father is having trouble dealing with. Overwhelmed by the contrast between his glamorous, superficial, wealthy life in London and the grittiness of his home town Alfie leaves the wedding and goes into a typical pub, only to see a delicate man wearing a pink jumper and hipster glasses with pink tips to his hair drinking a glass of rose wine. What starts off as a one-night stand turns strange when Alfie's lover turns out to be a boy he mercilessly bullied at school. He might have bullied Fen back then, but at least Fen knows who he is and is comfortable with himself whereas Alfie has no idea how to reconcile being gay with his inner voice and his ingrained beliefs. In fact, this book is all about reconciliation for Alfie. Reconciling his career in the South with his home in the North, his relationships with his family and friends, being gay with his instincts, what he likes with what he thinks he should like. I loved Alfie and I loved Fen, I loved their tentative relationship which is very much two steps forward and one step back, I loved everything about this romance.

Beautiful storytelling.