'Tender, evocative' TLS
'Richly engaging' Spectator
A Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week
'A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next' Observer
'A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written' Irish Examiner
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Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave Laura a widow.
As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to a more colourful life in action sees him blossom, as he experiences the possibility of death, and the excitement - even terror - of a love that is as clandestine as his work.
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'Stands with the best queer literary fiction of a historical bent, illuminated as it is by Gale's devilish wit and talent for both social observation and intricacies of character' Sydney Morning Herald
'A wonderful novel - a touching, utterly convincing portrait of the nascent artist' Mail on Sunday
'A deeply moving novel. The portrait of a complex relationship that constricted as much as it sustained is brilliantly done' The Tablet
'A celebration of love in hidden places, and love in ordinary places, and the courage required to be true to the person you are, when there is no road map to guide you. Sublime' Rachel Joyce
Laura is a young laundress, struggling to bring up her adored son, Charles, in a country still shadowed by war. Fiercely independent and recently widowed, she vows to do everything for her child, but gradually becomes aware that he is too gifted to ever be happy.
As a young adult, Charles briefly escapes the gossipy confines of his town and signs up to be a coder in the Navy. There, amid the violence of a new war, he relishes friendships - and love - of a kind he could never have found at home. Yet even as he tastes delicious liberty, he senses it will be lost with the return of peace.
MOTHER'S BOY is the tender, illuminating story of a well-loved poet, and a beautifully drawn evocation of the relationship between a mother and her son.
'A wonderfully tender account of a poet's coming of age. Patrick Gale is a master of atmosphere, detail and the deep currents of latent passion' Philip Marsden
'His women shine as brightly as the men, his characters age and grow by themselves, alive in their actions, hopes and losses' Stella Duffy
