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Scarlet Boy
Taking his inspiration from the powerful screen goddesses of the day, young Edward will stop at nothing in his single-minded pursuit of romance and stardom, cutting a swathe through his parents' mining community and the local grammar school. Harsh reality and his sharp-tongued mother, however, have a way of pricking his glorious balloon.
Wakefield's sequel to Forties Child, The Scarlet Boy, left unfinished at his death, is a recreation of childhood. It has all the hallmarks of a Tom Wakefield novel - a vivid sense of place, empathy with his characters, and a playful desire to undermine sexual conventions.
Wakefield's sequel to Forties Child, The Scarlet Boy, left unfinished at his death, is a recreation of childhood. It has all the hallmarks of a Tom Wakefield novel - a vivid sense of place, empathy with his characters, and a playful desire to undermine sexual conventions.
- GenresGay
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 1, 2026
Gale Project 10B
4.5, rounded down.
In retrospect it probably WASN'T strictly necessary to include this in my deep dive of Gale's entire canon; left unfinished at his friend's death, Gale gallantly decided to complete it, using the author's notes and 'ventriloquizing' his style. Although he states in an afterword that he made a few changes along the way, his major contribution is the final 25 pages (the last two chapters), in which he wrapped up the various threads with a most satisfying conclusion.
Often called a sequel to Wakefield's Forties' Child: An Early Autobiography, it picks up almost exactly where that volume ends, but changes young Tom to Edward, and fictionalizes some elements (and indeed a couple of the stories) from that tome. The title refers to the color of the uniform Edward wears to the secondary school he wins a spot at, due to his precocious intelligence, but also - as Gale makes clear in the final sentence - to his nascent homosexuality, coming into its own as the book ends.
As I mentioned, NOT strictly a Gale book - but am glad I read this and its predecessor, as Wakefield is another author who hasn't received due attention, as belied by the lack of ratings/reviews of his work here on GR - which I hope to help rectify after completing the Gale books.
4.5, rounded down.
In retrospect it probably WASN'T strictly necessary to include this in my deep dive of Gale's entire canon; left unfinished at his friend's death, Gale gallantly decided to complete it, using the author's notes and 'ventriloquizing' his style. Although he states in an afterword that he made a few changes along the way, his major contribution is the final 25 pages (the last two chapters), in which he wrapped up the various threads with a most satisfying conclusion.
Often called a sequel to Wakefield's Forties' Child: An Early Autobiography, it picks up almost exactly where that volume ends, but changes young Tom to Edward, and fictionalizes some elements (and indeed a couple of the stories) from that tome. The title refers to the color of the uniform Edward wears to the secondary school he wins a spot at, due to his precocious intelligence, but also - as Gale makes clear in the final sentence - to his nascent homosexuality, coming into its own as the book ends.
As I mentioned, NOT strictly a Gale book - but am glad I read this and its predecessor, as Wakefield is another author who hasn't received due attention, as belied by the lack of ratings/reviews of his work here on GR - which I hope to help rectify after completing the Gale books.
June 23, 2007
Posthumously finished by his good friend Patrick Gale, which is why I'm reading it.
Fragmentary, autobiographic, but human (aka honestly and simply touching) and humorous much like Gale's books, with the romance part added completely by "Angela Gayle", as Wakefield called his good friend.
Fragmentary, autobiographic, but human (aka honestly and simply touching) and humorous much like Gale's books, with the romance part added completely by "Angela Gayle", as Wakefield called his good friend.
Want to read
September 24, 2010Read Tom Wakefield's Forties Child before reading this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews