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Outcast
This is Mark Holly's story. Mark is twenty years old. He doesn't want to admit he's gay; not even that he's bisexual. He comes from a normal, working-class family. His dad's a plumber; his mom's a housewife. He plays in a rock bend and wants a normal life just like his friends, so he finds himself a girlfriend, Grace. Things seem to be under control until Mark meets Andrew, a gay bartender, and sex and love suddenly come alive for him. Mark learns that being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, but when his family finds out all hell breaks loose in this small English town.
- GenresGay
150 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
27 people want to read
About the author
Stuart Thorogood
7 booksStuart Thorogood was a man of many parts; an author and journalist who was also well known as a colourful and quirky Soho "scenester".
Stu worked at the Open University in London where his flamboyant style, irreverent humour and loyal friendship ensured him a unique place in collegiate life. His comedy sketches and Voice of Region column in the staff magazine provided an "alternative", but always affectionate, view of the OU.
One of three children, Stu grew up in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in a close and loving family. However, he later wrote that his lifelong struggle with depression began when he was 11, due partly to his growing awareness of his sexuality and the difficulty of asserting his identity as a young gay man in a small English town.
The struggle for acceptance, and eventual celebration of a lifestyle he didn't so much choose as grab with both hands and drag around the dance-floor, was fictionalised in his first novel Outcast, published by Gay Men's Press in 1999. The sequel, Outside In, appeared in 2001. Both were well-received for their refreshing insight into the challenges of coming out in a working class community in the 1990s.
His short stories were included in the Gay Times anthologies Bend Sinister (2002) and Serendipity (2004). He also published Drink Me (2009), a brutally honest memoir about his growing dependence on alcohol and drugs as he attempted to escape from the depression and anxiety that continued to haunt him. These problems made him decide to leave the OU and London and return home, where he became increasingly reclusive, although he maintained contact with his friends and continued to write, with social media providing a ready outlet for his sharp-witted (and sharp-tongued) observations.
Among the last things he wrote was a picture book entitled What Would You Rather?, dedicated to his beloved nephew and niece.
Stu worked at the Open University in London where his flamboyant style, irreverent humour and loyal friendship ensured him a unique place in collegiate life. His comedy sketches and Voice of Region column in the staff magazine provided an "alternative", but always affectionate, view of the OU.
One of three children, Stu grew up in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in a close and loving family. However, he later wrote that his lifelong struggle with depression began when he was 11, due partly to his growing awareness of his sexuality and the difficulty of asserting his identity as a young gay man in a small English town.
The struggle for acceptance, and eventual celebration of a lifestyle he didn't so much choose as grab with both hands and drag around the dance-floor, was fictionalised in his first novel Outcast, published by Gay Men's Press in 1999. The sequel, Outside In, appeared in 2001. Both were well-received for their refreshing insight into the challenges of coming out in a working class community in the 1990s.
His short stories were included in the Gay Times anthologies Bend Sinister (2002) and Serendipity (2004). He also published Drink Me (2009), a brutally honest memoir about his growing dependence on alcohol and drugs as he attempted to escape from the depression and anxiety that continued to haunt him. These problems made him decide to leave the OU and London and return home, where he became increasingly reclusive, although he maintained contact with his friends and continued to write, with social media providing a ready outlet for his sharp-witted (and sharp-tongued) observations.
Among the last things he wrote was a picture book entitled What Would You Rather?, dedicated to his beloved nephew and niece.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 21, 2025
This is a fine but not a great novel which I enjoyed immensely and I am in the process of buying the other two novels in the trilogy of which this is volume one. I am struggling, against my fondness, not to oversell this novel or the . Stuart Thorogood was (he is now dead and his obituary from the London Guardian newspaper is included after this review. I am trying to get Goodreads to add the relevant author details to his page but it may take some time) a good but not outstanding author, I can't pretend otherwise but this novel deserved far greater exposure then it received when published and doesn't deserve its current obscurity (see my footnote *1 below).
It is a really fine tale of the problems of coming out told from the perspective of a working class young man, a view which is rarely given the prominence it deserved in the UK (The wonderful 'The Milkman's on His Way' by David Rees is another neglected example). Times have changed for the better in many ways, but I believe that for many teenage boys the challenges of coming out and the fear of losing family and friends has only changed in degree. In some ways it may be worse. For years the 'gay' pub (an institution completely different from a 'bar') was a place where you could go and learn about yourself and gay life and its replacement by apps like Tinder etc. has not been universally happy and in some cases tragic.
I do not mean to romanticise the past or indulge in nostalgia but only say that for all things that change others remain the same. It doesn't matter how many M&M love stories are written portraying gays as simply a variation of the heterosexual norm, we aren't. Being gay/queer is always different even if some of us have managed to convince ourselves it isn't and we aren't.
I want to emphasise that this is a novel written in the 1990's by an author who had grown up post 'gay liberation' it is not about societal prejudice and the need for change/reform/etc. It is more the small scale and personal challenges and the lies and denials that gay men talk themselves into. Of course it deals with the prejudices of the 'straight' world and this is what gives its concluding chapters their real impact. I have no intention of spoiling anything but I would insist it is absolutely true to the time and, to an underlying but largely unspoken point of view, that may no longer be so openly expressed but is still with us. I am delighted for the way things have changed in the UK and Europe (and in my home country most of all - who would have imagined that Ireland would be the first country to legalise gay relationships?) but our outcast status is in the DNA of our culture hidden but not forgotten.
To conclude Stuart Thorogood's 'Outcast' is a really fine but not great literary novel which I think could be read with profit by many gays still in school (that does not mean in is in anyway a YA novel) and I look forward to reading Mr. Thorogood's later books with relish.
I also wanted to add that it has one of the finer Gay Men's Press covers simple, straightforwardly sexy, but not specifically gay. I can't help commenting on GMP covers because some of their finer books have some of the worst cover art in publishing history! This is definitely not one of them.
*1 It is rather sad that none of this author's novels have any reviews on Goodreads though it is not unexpected. He is one of many fine gay UK authors of an an earlier generation whose work never attracted the attention it deserved because of the blinkered, and still appalling prevalent (see my footnote *2 below), view of UK publishers that gay stories only appealed to a 'gay' readership.
*2 Even Andrew Holleran has had problems finding a UK publisher for his recent work.
What follows is Stuart Thorogood's obituary from the Guardian Newspaper, London, September 11, 2014:
" Our colleague and friend Stuart Thorogood, who has died of a heart attack aged 36, was a man of many parts; an author and journalist who was also well known as a colourful and quirky Soho "scenester".
"Stu worked with us at the Open University in London where his flamboyant style, irreverent humour and loyal friendship ensured him a unique place in collegiate life. His comedy sketches and Voice of Region column in the staff magazine provided an "alternative", but always affectionate, view of the OU.
"One of three children of Neil and Jill, Stu grew up in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in a close and loving family. However, he later wrote that his lifelong struggle with depression began when he was 11, due partly to his growing awareness of his sexuality and the difficulty of asserting his identity as a young gay man in a small English town.
"The struggle for acceptance, and eventual celebration of a lifestyle he didn't so much choose as grab with both hands and drag around the dance-floor, was fictionalised in his first novel Outcast, published by Gay Men's Press in 1999. The sequel, Outside In, appeared in 2001. Both were well-received for their refreshing insight into the challenges of coming out in a working class community in the 1990s.
"His short stories were included in the Gay Times anthologies Bend Sinister (2002) and Serendipity (2004), and he also published Drink Me (2009), a brutally honest memoir about his growing dependence on alcohol and drugs as he attempted to escape from the depression and anxiety that continued to haunt him. These problems made him decide to leave the OU and London and return home, where he became increasingly reclusive, although he maintained contact with his friends and continued to write, with social media providing a ready outlet for his sharp-witted (and sharp-tongued) observations.
"Stu's family were a vital source of affection and support throughout all the challenges he faced and among the last things he wrote was a picture book entitled What Would You Rather?, dedicated to his beloved nephew and niece.
"Just 10 days before he died, Stu, resolute as always, posted the following message on Facebook that sums him up better than we can hope to: 'You're born and then you live and then you die. You get one try. And I've tried everything. And I'm glad'.
"He is survived by Neil and Jill, his siblings, Jodie and Matthew, and his niece and nephew."
It is a really fine tale of the problems of coming out told from the perspective of a working class young man, a view which is rarely given the prominence it deserved in the UK (The wonderful 'The Milkman's on His Way' by David Rees is another neglected example). Times have changed for the better in many ways, but I believe that for many teenage boys the challenges of coming out and the fear of losing family and friends has only changed in degree. In some ways it may be worse. For years the 'gay' pub (an institution completely different from a 'bar') was a place where you could go and learn about yourself and gay life and its replacement by apps like Tinder etc. has not been universally happy and in some cases tragic.
I do not mean to romanticise the past or indulge in nostalgia but only say that for all things that change others remain the same. It doesn't matter how many M&M love stories are written portraying gays as simply a variation of the heterosexual norm, we aren't. Being gay/queer is always different even if some of us have managed to convince ourselves it isn't and we aren't.
I want to emphasise that this is a novel written in the 1990's by an author who had grown up post 'gay liberation' it is not about societal prejudice and the need for change/reform/etc. It is more the small scale and personal challenges and the lies and denials that gay men talk themselves into. Of course it deals with the prejudices of the 'straight' world and this is what gives its concluding chapters their real impact. I have no intention of spoiling anything but I would insist it is absolutely true to the time and, to an underlying but largely unspoken point of view, that may no longer be so openly expressed but is still with us. I am delighted for the way things have changed in the UK and Europe (and in my home country most of all - who would have imagined that Ireland would be the first country to legalise gay relationships?) but our outcast status is in the DNA of our culture hidden but not forgotten.
To conclude Stuart Thorogood's 'Outcast' is a really fine but not great literary novel which I think could be read with profit by many gays still in school (that does not mean in is in anyway a YA novel) and I look forward to reading Mr. Thorogood's later books with relish.
I also wanted to add that it has one of the finer Gay Men's Press covers simple, straightforwardly sexy, but not specifically gay. I can't help commenting on GMP covers because some of their finer books have some of the worst cover art in publishing history! This is definitely not one of them.
*1 It is rather sad that none of this author's novels have any reviews on Goodreads though it is not unexpected. He is one of many fine gay UK authors of an an earlier generation whose work never attracted the attention it deserved because of the blinkered, and still appalling prevalent (see my footnote *2 below), view of UK publishers that gay stories only appealed to a 'gay' readership.
*2 Even Andrew Holleran has had problems finding a UK publisher for his recent work.
What follows is Stuart Thorogood's obituary from the Guardian Newspaper, London, September 11, 2014:
" Our colleague and friend Stuart Thorogood, who has died of a heart attack aged 36, was a man of many parts; an author and journalist who was also well known as a colourful and quirky Soho "scenester".
"Stu worked with us at the Open University in London where his flamboyant style, irreverent humour and loyal friendship ensured him a unique place in collegiate life. His comedy sketches and Voice of Region column in the staff magazine provided an "alternative", but always affectionate, view of the OU.
"One of three children of Neil and Jill, Stu grew up in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, in a close and loving family. However, he later wrote that his lifelong struggle with depression began when he was 11, due partly to his growing awareness of his sexuality and the difficulty of asserting his identity as a young gay man in a small English town.
"The struggle for acceptance, and eventual celebration of a lifestyle he didn't so much choose as grab with both hands and drag around the dance-floor, was fictionalised in his first novel Outcast, published by Gay Men's Press in 1999. The sequel, Outside In, appeared in 2001. Both were well-received for their refreshing insight into the challenges of coming out in a working class community in the 1990s.
"His short stories were included in the Gay Times anthologies Bend Sinister (2002) and Serendipity (2004), and he also published Drink Me (2009), a brutally honest memoir about his growing dependence on alcohol and drugs as he attempted to escape from the depression and anxiety that continued to haunt him. These problems made him decide to leave the OU and London and return home, where he became increasingly reclusive, although he maintained contact with his friends and continued to write, with social media providing a ready outlet for his sharp-witted (and sharp-tongued) observations.
"Stu's family were a vital source of affection and support throughout all the challenges he faced and among the last things he wrote was a picture book entitled What Would You Rather?, dedicated to his beloved nephew and niece.
"Just 10 days before he died, Stu, resolute as always, posted the following message on Facebook that sums him up better than we can hope to: 'You're born and then you live and then you die. You get one try. And I've tried everything. And I'm glad'.
"He is survived by Neil and Jill, his siblings, Jodie and Matthew, and his niece and nephew."
October 14, 2023
Look, I'm sure this book was really important to some gays in the nineties (at least three times in the last pages of the book someone says "but it's the nineties!") but it is really quite terrible.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews