On the Edge

by Sebastian Beaumont

19-year-old Peter Ellis is on the edge of discovery - both about the artist father he never knew and about the direction of his own life. Although he has heterosexual relationships, it is with his life-long friend, Martin, that Peter feels happiest.

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In this auspicious debut novel set in the north of England, nineteen year old Peter Elis is on the edge of discovery - both about the artist father he never knew and whom his mother refuses to discuss and about the direction of his own life. Although he has heterosexual relationships with the teenaged Anna and the somewhat perverse art student Coll, it is with his life long friend Martin, himself a painter of promise, that Peter seems happiest. 'On The Edge' combines elements of a thriller - the mystery surrounding the life and sudden death of Peter's father - and passionate ambisextrous romance and provides an immensely readable narrative about late adolescence, sexuality and creativity.

"Born in Scotland in 1960, Sebastian Beaumont now lives in Brighton in Sussex and has contributed short prose pieces, reviews and interviews to various publications."

From the back cover of the Milvers Press 1991 paperback edition.

This is a very fine novel by an author who I greatly admire. On a superficial level it is easy to dismiss the book as a dated 'coming out' and 'coming to terms' with one's sexuality novel and, really, haven't we all been there and done that? well no, and even if you think you have and that what people went through 40 years ago is just to passé and irrelevant because we, as in 'Gay' people, are all out there proud and accepted and don't need this sort of stuff any more then you probably need to read it even more. Not that I expect anybody will, which is a tremendous shame because this is a fine novel and has many more things to say than simply about 'coming out'. It is about family, friends, growing up and, for me its greatest joy, is that it is a novel set outside London - and it was the glory, for a brief time, of UK gay publishing back in the late 20th century that they gave a voice to such a diversity of gay men from backgrounds outside the stultifying London/South East axis.

Of course it is of its time, although not written as a 'historical' novel it will be seen as such by many younger readers - perhaps it is still just to recent - its appeal may come in another ten years or so. I recommend it highly and, if you don't read this novel I do recommend you search out Sebastian Beaumont's other novels - they are well worth it.

[Martyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. To me it feels like a misleading book. It's not a most attractive of cover illustrations but there is obviously something homoerotic about it, in some ways bearing relation to the contents, but not fully. For the most part the central figure in the book only has sex with women, and while the author may have felt it to be a necessary part of the character's lifestyle and development, it's something I'd rather not have to hear much about! I'd rather the author had put more effort into the gay sexual encounters, but he didn't. I therefore felt kind of cheated, waiting for the book to get to a point at which it never really arrived. I had to endure all the unpleasant side of the story without there being anything particularly uplifting to compensate for it at the other end. Personally I think it would have been a better book if all the relationships with women had been removed entirely and the focus had been on the homophobic attacks and the mystery surrounding Peter's father because they were the more interesting parts of the book.