PRETTY BOYS ALL IN A ROW

PRETTY BOYS ALL IN A ROW
Andrew Kay

Summer 1981 and hedonism rules on the sun-baked island of Ibiza. The streets and bars are overflowing and on the beaches there's a seemingly endless parade of beautiful bronzed young men. Philip, though, is pasty and pale and plain to boot. Why on earth, he wonders, has he come to this gay paradise when he can barely pluck up the courage even to uncover his body?
 

Then Philip meets Terry and everything changes. Terry is sixty-something, with a shocking predilection for multi-coloured shell suits and corduroy shoes, but also a bottomless wallet and a generous heart. Under Terry's guidance, Philip begins to discover a whole new self and his transformation from ugly duckling to gorgeous butterfly begins. But Terry, too, has his own demons to face...

In this charming, witty and entertaining novel, Andrew Kay evokes a long-gone and surprisingly innocent world of casual encounters and guilt-free sex, but in the background is a darker theme - the difficulties of ageing, especially in a gay culture obsessed with youth and sexual conquest.

168 pages, paperback