Love, life, music and beautiful Cornwall (Patrick Gale in general)

Member Name: dee778

Product:	Patrick Gale in general
Date:	27/06/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: In depth characterisation with fantastic prose

Disadvantages: None

Patrick Gale is the author of 16 novels and has been called 'Britain's most successful gay writer'. Gale's own experiences run as a theme through most of his novels; his love of the Cornish landscape, his musical childhood, his sexuality and his experience of being brought up as the son of a prison governor can all be seen in his work.

Biography
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Patrick Gale was born in 1962 on the Isle of Wright, but now lives in Cornwall. His father was the prison governor of Camp Hill Prison and Gale was brought up living in the prison grounds. In 'Rough Music' this unusual childhood is vividly evoked, as the central character grows up in the prison, playing in the walled governor's garden and making friends with the prisoners through open windows.

Gale was educated at the Pilgrims' School (a choir school) before going up to Oxford. His family was musical and at the age of seven it was discovered that Patrick had a remarkable singing voice. He won a scholarship as one of Winchester Cathedral's historic sixteen Quiristers. This idyll provided ample material for his fourth novel, 'Facing the Tank'. Following university he sang for the London Philharmonic Choir, and uses his musical background to good effect in 'A Sweet Obscurity', which centres around the lives and loves of a counter tenor opera singer and a musicologist.

By the time he was twenty-eight, he had had seven novels published. As well as writing and reviewing fiction, he has contributed to various anthologies; written for television; published a biography of Armistead Maupin; written a short history of the Dorchester Hotel and chapters on Mozart's piano and mechanical music for H C Robbins Landon's The Mozart Compendium. Apart from the writing and the music, Patrick is a dedicated bridge player.

Gale now lives with his partner, a farmer, in Cornwall, and his life continues to be reflected in his novels, with the beauty of Cornwall reflected in every book, and a handsome gay Cornish farmer appearing as the love interest !

Novels
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Patrick Gale is one of my favourite authors. I started reading him some years ago, with his first book was written in 1986, entitled 'The Aerodynamics of Pork'. Set in Cornwall at the Trenellion Music Festival, it is about the developing 17 year old Seth, and has an almost unfeasible number of gay relationships. It has become a bit of a cult favourite with his fans. Although I liked this book, I was a bit surprised by a new gay character coming out every other page, but was interested enough to persevere. I have now read everything he has written and I am currently halfway through his latest (2009) offering 'The Whole Day Through'.

Over the years I have found that Patrick Gale seems to have mellowed. I felt that he pushed the gay element in his work too much in the early days, but recently his work has seemed more balanced as he looks at relationships and tragedy in everyday life. I love the way that his novels really flesh out the characters, allowing the reader to really engage. The pace is fairly slow, and the story is often quite simple and set in a short time frame, and this allows him to develop characters and give background. There is almost always an unusual quirk to his stories - I go away feeling that I have learnt something about a way of life that I know nothing about. Above all he writes about Cornwall with real affection - I always long to visit after I have read one of his books.

I am not going into the detail of every book Patrick Gale has written, as these are reviewed separately elsewhere. I will mention my favourite Patrick Gale, which I have read three times now, finding more in it at each read. 'Rough Music' is the book that I lend to friends when I introduce them to Patrick Gale, and everybody who has read this has become a fan. It covers three generations of one family. I loved the descriptions of life growing up as the daughter of a prison governor is mixed in with childhood descriptions of life in the 1960s, including a family holiday to Cornwall that takes all night because the motorway hasn't been built yet ! Brings back memories for me! The modern day strand covers the issue of Alzheimer's with humour as well as sympathy. There were some laugh out loud moments in this part of the book for me, which may seem a bit strange. The two stories interweave, until all is made clear at the end. It covers the problems of life, love and relationships, and is totally unputdownable!

Summary: Give his work a try