Title: Running up that Hill
Author: Barry Brennessel
Length: 13,000 words
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: m/m historical (1986) romance
Rating: B
Blurb:
For Jeremy Saura, a song by Kate Bush holds all the answers. Pushes him onward. Sends him running up that road. Up that hill. Up that building.
Jeremy gets chills as he listens to the lyrics. The song, a beautiful powerhouse of determination over despair, only gains in impact as he replays it. Seven times. “I adore you Kate Bush,” he whispers to her photograph. For Jeremy, “Running Up That Hill” gives him the momentum he needs to navigate the trials and tribulations of a new job, a complex friendship, and a budding workplace romance.
Review:
I have a fondness for this author’s books as they often manage to blend the serious with gentle humour. This book was no exception. The story is set in 1986. Our narrator, Jeremy, has started a new job at a publishing company, dealing with editorial mistakes. It’s mostly tedious paperwork but his day is brightened by a trip to the upper floor where he helps out hunky editor, Adam.
There were two themes within this story. firstly, there’s the romance between Jeremy and Adam. It’s not an easy start for them but I thought that the author had managed to capture that moment of ‘is he/isn’t he?’ and the awkwardness of a new beginning. The uncertainty continues through the next few days and the story ends on a HFN which left me smiling.
The second theme is linked with the 1980’s setting and covers different aspects of life in 1986. This was a pleasing nostalgic trip for me (the story begins the day after what was my 14th birthday) and it showed a moment in time when the technological world was starting to take off. Jeremy buys 45s instead of LPs but CDs are starting to become popular and some of the bands mentioned in the story made me smile at the memory – although my taste in music at that age leaned more towards Wham and Madonna than Kate Bush :). Most of Jeremy’s job involves bits of paper but there’s much fun to be had in the reactions to the new Word Processors that have been introduced to the office. There’s serious stuff too with AIDS being a part of life for gay men but even this was handled in a fairly lighthearted way.
Overall, this was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me but was intertwined with a nicely written romance and I’d definitely recommend the story to those who remember the 1980s.