The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle: the most heartwarming and uplifting love story of the year

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I received this as a goodreads giveaway. Thank you Kensington Books, John Scognamiglio Books, and Penguin Random House. I really liked Nicole’s romance with Jamie. Given the nature of the story, Albert and George were never going to meet up until right at the end so Nic/Jamie gave me my romance feels. Their story didn’t go the way I thought it would (in a good way) – too many other reads setting up my expectations I guess! :) But perhaps we need a book in which this happens. It won’t make up for the past but as Albert says, he’s partly continuing his search to find George not only for himself but for all the men who lost their loves or their lives due to prejudice, HIV or having lived when being open and out wasn’t possible. For this I say, fling the glitter and confetti. When it comes to written – rather than verbal – evidence of working-class queer lives, this is often ambiguous. For Stephen Hornby's last play, The Adhesion of Love, he researched a group of working-class men from Bolton who set up a Walt Whitman appreciation society in the 1880s. They entered into regular correspondence with America’s great queer poet – and two of them even travelled to New York to visit him. In the play, Hornby has inferred that the men were what we'd now call gay. "If we look at the record that does exist of the Bolton men’s lives with the assumption that they were heterosexual," he says, "we're just left with a lot of puzzles and unanswerable questions. If we flip it, and assume they were interested in men sexually and emotionally, then all those puzzles disappear, and all the questions are answered."

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain | Waterstones

The story is quite predictable, with only a couple of surprises along the way. Then again, I should have expected this, considering it is contemporary general fiction. HB: Yeah, it’s important that even though Albert gets such a beautifully happy ending, that we remember that not everyone did. A really fast paced and enjoyable listed. I loved how he slowly starting changing and accepting himself for who he is. The character building was amazing and I could truly see how well Albert could dance in my mind. Whispering Stories was established in 2015. The blog is here to share our love of books and the bookish world, alongside our other passions in life. We are based in the UK.As a therapist I can understand that this book gives a very important and positive message. There are actually certain clients I would recommend it to. Matt Cain is a writer, broadcaster, and a leading commentator on LGBTQ+ issues. He was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, has written for all the national newspapers, and is a regular presenter on Virgin Radio Pride.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle: A surprising, uplifting

Everyone’s view of the world is different. With that being said, if you choose to read this book, get ready for a love story that stretches over decades. As I said, this one starts bleak but gets much happier before eventually becoming full fledged feelgood. It’s like most of all the tough conflict is cleared out early on to smooth the path for the rest of the story. I could feel Albert’s reluctance to interact with most of his colleagues and people on his post route. Albert is a quiet kind of person, as am I, and both of us aren’t the flamboyant ones who garner attention and tell every detail of our lives. I too look forward to getting home and relaxing with my cats (I’m one cat short of being an official Crazy Cat Lady). I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough’ LORRAINE KELLYI’ve finished the book now. I completely agree. Definitely wanted Albert to get another cat! Yes to too much treacle and perfection. On the one hand, he had a lot of trauma in the past so making things easy for him now was perhaps not totally realistic but I was happy for him. And as you suggested, it’s good to have that kind of representation out in the world. When it came to his mother, that would be the only woman he ever loved. Because Albert loved a man. Throughout his sixty years he has loved one man. One he met in high school in 1969. George. This event was the catalyst to Albert's budding new growth and eventual bloom - because Albert has lived his whole life in the closet, metaphorically speaking. The reasons for this are not clear in the beginning, but Cain lets them bloom, along with Albert's personality, as the story progresses. Stephen Hornby, national playwright-in-residence for the UK's LGBT History Month, argues that our stories have long been actively suppressed. "The only interest used to be in censoring or denying any queer elements of the records of the past. So, things were kept from public display, passages were omitted from books and sexual relationships were presented as passionate friendships. That was wilful and deliberate distortion."

hidden gay lives finally being uncovered - BBC Culture The hidden gay lives finally being uncovered - BBC Culture

It tries too hard to incorporate varied social commentary in the narrative, with topics ranging from Afro hair to climate change. I understand the need for topics but the core issue here was huge enough without treating the book as a chance to broadcast more meaningful messages for societal betterment. All in all, despite the somewhat formulaic approach, the book offers plenty of insightful content and is a pretty good reading experience. If I had read it, I might have rated it a 3.25-3.5. But the audiobook definitely enhanced my experience and I’ll go with a 4 star. The Netgalley tagline calls this “the most uplifting and ‘heart-warming PERFECT COMFORT LISTEN”, and I agree. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to RB Media via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.I read the blurb for this book and wanted to try it based on the feeling that I was going to get something a little different from my usual. Here is an older MC – a closeted gay man facing his retirement and wondering about the love he lost 50 years ago. It also had a cat on the cover. It began with a lot of sad stuff, had me tearing up in places but by the end it was almost too perfectly smooth and easy. Sort of a Hallmark Movie in a book. I loved this book the first time of reading and getting to listen to the audiobook was just fabulous.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle | Matt Cain The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle | Matt Cain

A super-feelgood (eventually) story of Albert, a 64yo postman in a Northern town, whose miserably closeted and lonely life has dwindled to nothing, and how he comes out of his shell, makes friends, enhances other people's lives along with his own, and seeks his long lost love. Albert has worked in the same job as a postman since leaving school. He avoids mixing with his work colleagues as much as possible, but he loves his job and is devastated to find he is going to be forced to retire at his next birthday. With a new year fast approaching, Albert needs to be brave and go after what he wants, however much it scares him. And he will begin by looking for the man that, many years ago, he lost – but has never forgotten . . .The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is a touching story about a man finally living for himself and not being afraid of letting others see his true self. Albert had been given a blunt message about what his friends thought of people like him, what the world at large thought of people like him—of the real him, the him he’d been careful to keep well hidden.” All in all, despite the somewhat formulaic approach, the book offers plenty of insightful content and is a pretty good reading experience. If I had read it, I might have rated it a 3.25-3.5. But the audiobook definitely enhanced my experience and I’ll go with a higher rating. The Netgalley tagline calls this “the most uplifting and heart-warming PERFECT COMFORT LISTEN”, and I agree.