by Clancy Sigal
First published 2013
Gus Black walks the streets of London in 1956, an American radical who has chosen exile over conformity. He carries the weight of his political past and the uncertainty of his future as he tries to carve out a new existence in a foreign city. When he meets Rose O'Malley, a novelist with her own creative ambitions, their relationship becomes both refuge and complication. Gus finds himself drawn into an affair that offers intimacy but also exposes his vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, he grapples with his own literary aspirations, attempting to transform his experiences into words on a page. The writing proves as challenging as the exile itself. London becomes the backdrop for his internal struggle between who he was in America and who he might become abroad. As Gus navigates love, art, and identity, he must confront whether reinvention is possible or whether the past always follows.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, identity-crisis
Setting: London
Period: 1956
Kindle Edition · Open Road Media