{"id":488,"date":"2021-03-31T10:39:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T09:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=488"},"modified":"2025-02-10T16:28:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T16:28:26","slug":"small-town-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cambridgewriters.org\/?p=488","title":{"rendered":"Small Town Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Small-Town-Blues-Brookes\/dp\/B08WJPL8SD\/ref=sr_1_12?crid=26U5YM82B0BBV&amp;keywords=small+town+blues&amp;qid=1642018964&amp;sprefix=small+town+blues%2Caps%2C70&amp;sr=8-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cambridgewriters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/small-town-blues-id-156.jpg\" alt=\"Small Town Blues by Les Brookes\" class=\"wp-image-489\" width=\"148\" height=\"235\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Small Town Blues<\/em> by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridgewriters.org\/?p=88\">Les Brookes<\/a> &#8211; a tale of gay love in 1980&#8217;s Suffolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>What do I really want? Do I know? Well, I know what I don\u2019t want. I don\u2019t want a life of settled ease with Colin, peppered with a series of casual encounters. I want a lover. A real lover. Someone to bond with on every level\u2026<\/em>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the 1980s&nbsp;in rural Suffolk, and Evan has high hopes when he moves in with Colin, but his dreams and illusions are shattered when, bored with country life, he embarks on a string of disastrous affairs\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"small-town-blues-is-available-from-amazon\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Small-Town-Blues-Brookes-ebook\/dp\/B08P9MYR7X\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3NBKSEJ8EXREZ&amp;keywords=les+brookes+small+town+blues&amp;qid=1617263965&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=les+brookes%2Cstripbooks%2C1271&amp;sr=1-1\"><em>Small Town Blues<\/em> is available from Amazon<\/a>.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"readers-comments-on-small-town-blues\">Readers&#8217; comments on <em>Small Town Blues:<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I enjoyed Small Town Blues! What a wonderful story. A brilliant portrait of one of those gorgeous, awful gay boys we\u2019ve all met at some time or other. The ones that have \u2018ideas\u2019 but no discernible talent; who leave a trail of broken hearts in their wake. The book skewers their vanity and narcissism<br>masterfully\u2013but there\u2019s so much sympathy for them too. Kindness and<br>forgiveness. By the end, I almost felt guilty for wishing Evan to get<br>his comeuppance. (Almost!)&#8221; \u2013&nbsp;<em>Diarmuid<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8221; thoroughly enjoyed Small Town Blues, especially the mix of humour and seriousness in following Evan\u2019s efforts to become a writer, his hopeless affairs with the various men he comes across and poor Colin\u2019s relegation to cooking the suppers!&nbsp;Evan\u2019s shifts of mood are vividly depicted too, as well as his work in the art gallery and his attraction to the London scene. The account of&nbsp; the two men\u2019s trip&nbsp;to Paris is especially enjoyable&#8221; \u2013&nbsp;<em>Paulina<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lesbrookes.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Readers&#8217; comments from Les&#8217; website, where you can find out more about him<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small Town Blues by Les Brookes &#8211; a tale of gay love in 1980&#8217;s Suffolk. &#8220;What do I really want? Do I know? Well, I know what I don\u2019t want. I don\u2019t want a life of settled ease with Colin, peppered with a series of casual encounters. I want a lover. A real lover. Someone&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridgewriters.org\/?p=488\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Small Town Blues<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"[\"title\",\"content\",\"tags\",\"comments\"]","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-by-les-brookes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Small Town Blues - 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