Title: Half a Man
Series: War Tales 01
Author: Scarlet Blackwell
Genre: Historical (1919)
Length: Novella (156pgs)
Publisher: Silver Publishing (10th September 2011)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Traumatized by the nightmare of trench warfare in France, Robert Blake turns to rent boy Jack Anderson for solace. Neither man expects their business relationship to go quite so far.
It is 1919, less than a year after the end of the First World War with a recovering Britain in the grip of the influenza pandemic. Crippled veteran of the Somme battle, Robert Blake, is looking for someone to ease his nightmares of France and his guilt over what happened to his commanding officer. He turns to educated rent boy Jack Anderson for physical solace, not expecting how deeply the two soon become immersed in each other’s lives.
Review: Robert is a war veteran who was severely wounded. He now only sees himself as half a man but he has decided to find a little human comfort in the form of a companion. Jack is a book store worker but he also works as a discreet escort providing companionship and comfort to those who request it.
This is a well written story that pulls at the heart strings. We have Robert who has shut himself off from the outside world because of his injury and guilt; guilt over his lover and commander who didn’t survive the war. We have Jack who has turned to being what rich men want (discreetly) so that he can survive in post-war England.
The arrangement between these two men quickly becomes something more for both of them but they both put up obstacles as Robert fears that he cannot give Jack what he needs because of his condition (he can’t walk and can’t get an erection), while Jack worries that he can’t be in Robert’s life because Robert knows all about his profession as an escort/companion and that he isn’t good enough for Robert.
I think this was a very charming story that gave us a great happily ever after for the time of 1919. I do think that the setting and the reactions of the time were realistic, I also liked that Robert didn’t become magically healed by Jack but that Jack started the healing process instead, all in all well worth reading.