BLURB William Lyon's past forced him to become someone he isn't. Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby's offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.
William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.
Just want to start by saying that I am huge fan of Kim Fielding. There's always something about her books that I love, the characters, the story, always something. But this book I found was a nice mix of both.
This is a heartbreaking yet gentle story that deals with ex-gay therapy as it was done as far back as WWII but also fairly recently. In this story William, a psychology doctorate candidate moves into an abandoned insane asylum to work as a caretaker while he works on finishing his dissertation. While he is there he comes across a tin box containing letters written by a patient back in the late 1930s. Said patient had been committed to the asylum because he was a homosexual. William is a 32yo going through a divorce after finally deciding to live the life of a gay man. But he is also the survivor of conversion therapy.
Although the topic may seem grim at first glance, Kim does an amazing job at balancing it by adding Colby and Will to the mix. Colby is the sparkle in this story but you also have William's quiet and loving personality in the mix. Together they bring to the story the ray of hope needed to deal with such a bitter topic.
This book did start a bit slow for my taste but it picked up when Colby walked in the scene somewhere around 10%. Sometimes I am a bit impatient, hehe.
I loved this book a lot because Kim took what I think is a challenging subject and handled it deftly.
The Tin Box
BLURB
William Lyon's past forced him to become someone he isn't. Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby's offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.
William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.
Just want to start by saying that I am huge fan of Kim Fielding. There's always something about her books that I love, the characters, the story, always something. But this book I found was a nice mix of both.
This is a heartbreaking yet gentle story that deals with ex-gay therapy as it was done as far back as WWII but also fairly recently. In this story William, a psychology doctorate candidate moves into an abandoned insane asylum to work as a caretaker while he works on finishing his dissertation. While he is there he comes across a tin box containing letters written by a patient back in the late 1930s. Said patient had been committed to the asylum because he was a homosexual. William is a 32yo going through a divorce after finally deciding to live the life of a gay man. But he is also the survivor of conversion therapy.
Although the topic may seem grim at first glance, Kim does an amazing job at balancing it by adding Colby and Will to the mix. Colby is the sparkle in this story but you also have William's quiet and loving personality in the mix. Together they bring to the story the ray of hope needed to deal with such a bitter topic.
This book did start a bit slow for my taste but it picked up when Colby walked in the scene somewhere around 10%. Sometimes I am a bit impatient, hehe.
I loved this book a lot because Kim took what I think is a challenging subject and handled it deftly.