Becoming Ted by Matt Cain

A charming, joyful and surprising story about love, friendship and learning to be true to yourself, Becoming Ted will steal your heart.

Ted Ainsworth has always worked at his family’s ice-cream business in the quiet Lancashire town of St Luke’s-on-Sea.

But the truth is, he’s never wanted to work for the family firm – he doesn’t even like ice-cream, though he’s never told his parents that. When Ted’s husband suddenly leaves him, the bottom falls out of his world.

But what if this could be an opportunity to put what he wants first? This could be the chance to finally follow his secret dream: something Ted has never told anyone …

My Review

Poor Ted doesn’t even like ice cream, but he’s been working at his parents’ ice cream parlour all his adult life. He never had a choice. They’ve been very good to him, so he is grateful to them for everything. For the fact that they totally understood when he came out, never criticised his personal decisions or disapproved when he married Giles. Even though Giles was and still is a total dick.

But Ted has other ambitions – a secret dream that only he knows about. He has never told anyone, not his mum and dad, nor his sister who went off to London to follow her own dream, not even his best friend Denise.

So when Giles leaves him for Spanish lothario Javier, it looks like the time is right for Ted to branch out. Once he has got over the shock that is. He can go to dance classes, he can sing along to Cher songs, he can bop and gyrate like no-one is watching (apologies for the dreadful cliche), because Giles always put him down and told him he was rubbish.

Oskar came to St Luke’s-on-Sea from Poland ten years ago. Being a gay man in Poland was much harder than in the UK. Perfectly legal, but still frowned upon. Oskar has never ‘come out’ or had a relationship, because he can’t come to terms with his sexuality. He still believes he must be a pervert. He works as a painter and decorator but dreams of being an interior designer.

And then there is Stanley, still as flamboyant and outspoken in his nineties as he was in his heyday. Ted is very lucky he says, because when Stanley was young, homosexuality was still illegal. He had to creep around in secret, afraid of being caught. I may be a lot younger than Stanley, but I still remember when the law changed in 1967 – I was in my teens and I had never really understood why it was illegal in the first place.

Under the Buggery Act of 1533 (during the reign of Henry VIII who was fine with chopping the heads off two of his wives), having a same-sex relationship was punishable by death. This only ever applied to men. It wasn’t until 1861 that this was reduced to life imprisonment or hard labour with a minimum of ten years. But I digress.

This was such a lovely book, full of laughter, joy, sadness, a little intrigue, friendship and being true to yourself. Matt Cain is an author who can pull at your heartstrings till you are bursting with happiness and crying over characters like Ted and Oskar as if they are your real friends. I miss them terribly already.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Matt Cain is an author, a leading commentator on LGBT+ issues, and a former journalist. He is currently a presenter for Virgin Radio Pride UK, was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, and has judged the Costa Prize, the Polari Prize and the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. He won Diversity in Media’s Journalist Of the Year award in 2017 and is an ambassador for Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, plus a patron of LGBT+ History Month. Born in Bury and brought up in Bolton, he now lives in London.

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