Heart-warming novel set in LANCASHIRE

10th January 2023

Becoming Ted by Matt Cain, heart-warming novel set in Lancashire.

Ted Ainsworth is the intended heir to his parents’ ice-cream parlour, but, poor man, he has never plucked up the courage to admit to them that he doesn’t actually like ice-cream. At all. He beats himself up because this is just one manifestation of him being unable to be true to himself.

As the novel opens he is truly contented, living with Giles, his husband of several years. But he then stumbles across incriminating photos of him with another man, who turns out to be Javier, and before he has a chance to understand the lie of the land, Giles has moved out.

Ted needs to pick up his life and relies on his friend Denise. He has always had a longing to express himself on stage, but Giles has grindingly undermined his talent and dreams. The more we learn of his husband, the more the ending of the relationship is clearly in Ted’s interests.

Becoming Ted is very much a story of one man in his 40s pressing re-set on his life. As he moves forward he has to contend with being open and honest with his parents and finding friendships that are supportive of him. He falls for Oskar who has had a very difficult time being gay in Poland and has had to leave the country of his birth. Oskar has his own demons to work through. Ted also discovers a new and heartening friendship with Stanely, who is many years his senior and who suffered greatly in the years when it was illegal to be homosexual – a very sobering thought, given that is only a few decades ago. This novel is certainly instructive on several levels.

To add an extra dimension, Ted is being sent notes which indicate that his father hasn’t been altogether the upright citizen he seems to be.

Becoming Ted is a very nicely penned and engaging story and may perhaps take you into worlds previously unexplored! 😉

In a tweet from the author on 2 February, he says that the setting is based on a mix of Southport, Eastbourne and St Anne’s.

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