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The Nick & Greg Books #1
Nick & Greg
Brighton in the late 1950s is a place of excitement and danger for Nick and two teenagers who meet one day after school. The town is their playground, and with all the innocence and recklessness of youth they run through its streets, uncover its secrets and discover their passionate desires for each other. Gay life thrives in Brighton, but homosexuality is against the law and exists largely behind closed doors, invisible and unspoken. Against this backdrop, Nick seeks to expand his self-awareness through literature and a widening circle of friends. Greg though is constrained by denial, his family ties, and a pattern of increasingly self-destructive behaviour that threatens to unbalance his mind. In Nick & Greg, John Roman Baker gives a frank, witty and authentic portrait of the lives of two boys growing up in a period when gay liberation was just a fairy tale and Oscar Wilde was a name to be feared more than any monster on a cinemascope screen. Nick & Greg is the first book in the Nick & Greg series by John Roman Baker. The Nick & Greg books chart the lives of two friends Nick and Greg from their first meeting at the age of fourteen one afternoon after school in late 1957, through their teenage adventures in the swinging sixties, to young maturity and the gay liberation of the 1970s. From the outset, despite being against the law, Nick and Greg are sexually uninhibited and adventurous and seek to experience all that life and society have to offer. As time passes they find new friendships and relationship but, like two sides of one coin, they retain an inextricable bond. Set predominantly in Brighton, the ‘gay capital of England’, the author creates a vivid kaleidoscope of the times, taking in Swinging Sixties London and post-’68 Paris, that includes many cultural reference points notably in gay literature, popular music, film and theatre as well as documenting social and political changes. A British Tales of the City, Nick and Greg will charm, intrigue, excite and leave you longing for their next adventure. REVIEWS "I look forward to reading more of the adventures of these two tender tearaway queers." GScene Magazine (Nick & Greg) "A wonderful and brutally honest job ... a special treat." Amos Lassen Reviews (Nick & Greg)
- GenresM M RomanceGayLGBT
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 26, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 7, 2016
Baker, John Roman. “Nick & Greg” (“Nick & Greg Books”), Wilkinson House, 2016.
The First in a Trilogy
Amos Lassen
Set in Brighton, England in the late 1950s, we meet Nick and Greg who themselves just met one day after school. Brighton was an exciting and dangerous place back yet they made it their playground. As they run around town with the innocence of youth, they discovered not just the secrets of Brighton but also their deep love and passionate desires for each other.
They learn that there is gay life in Brighton and that it thrives there even though it is illegal according to the law at the time. What is there is hidden behind closed doors and neither seen or spoken of. Nick wants to learn about his sexuality and begins to read all that he can and he looks for other gays to befriend. Greg, however, is held in because of his family and his own sense of uneasiness and soon begins to show signs of self-destructive behavior that could really hurt his mental state.
John Roman Baker does a wonderful and brutally honest job of sharing the lives of two young teens who grew up at a time when being gay was very different than it is today. I have always found interesting to learn how gay people in other parts of the world deal with their sexuality and here we see how it was in Brighton. There is truth and there is wit in depicting that. Since this is the first book in the trilogy, we know that the two friends we meet here will be back with more of their story and I can’t wait to read about them again. I found this to be a special treat and eagerly await “Time of Obsessions” and “Dangerous Seas”.
The First in a Trilogy
Amos Lassen
Set in Brighton, England in the late 1950s, we meet Nick and Greg who themselves just met one day after school. Brighton was an exciting and dangerous place back yet they made it their playground. As they run around town with the innocence of youth, they discovered not just the secrets of Brighton but also their deep love and passionate desires for each other.
They learn that there is gay life in Brighton and that it thrives there even though it is illegal according to the law at the time. What is there is hidden behind closed doors and neither seen or spoken of. Nick wants to learn about his sexuality and begins to read all that he can and he looks for other gays to befriend. Greg, however, is held in because of his family and his own sense of uneasiness and soon begins to show signs of self-destructive behavior that could really hurt his mental state.
John Roman Baker does a wonderful and brutally honest job of sharing the lives of two young teens who grew up at a time when being gay was very different than it is today. I have always found interesting to learn how gay people in other parts of the world deal with their sexuality and here we see how it was in Brighton. There is truth and there is wit in depicting that. Since this is the first book in the trilogy, we know that the two friends we meet here will be back with more of their story and I can’t wait to read about them again. I found this to be a special treat and eagerly await “Time of Obsessions” and “Dangerous Seas”.
February 21, 2020
Nick and Greg is one of the most compelling novels I’ve read in a while. By which I mean I became completely obsessed by the characters and binge read the whole thing in two days.
Even the side characters were captivating and after Nick’s interactions with them I still cared enough to wonder what happened to them. Some of them I’d like to pop up in the later books as well.
Also the ending! At first I thought it was going to be my favourite bookend ever and then *that* happened and I started reading the second book immediately. Which I’m now half way through.
Honestly, I wish I could give this book a more eloquent review because it was pretty close to perfect. If anyone’s after a slice of life period piece set in the 50s with a generous helping of sexual discovery - this is the series for you.
Even the side characters were captivating and after Nick’s interactions with them I still cared enough to wonder what happened to them. Some of them I’d like to pop up in the later books as well.
Also the ending! At first I thought it was going to be my favourite bookend ever and then *that* happened and I started reading the second book immediately. Which I’m now half way through.
Honestly, I wish I could give this book a more eloquent review because it was pretty close to perfect. If anyone’s after a slice of life period piece set in the 50s with a generous helping of sexual discovery - this is the series for you.
October 5, 2018
Blast from the past part 1
I am of a similar age as the main characters were at the time period used for the setting, and can relate well to the teenage development and confusion of life, family, friends, school, movies, music, plays, books, bars, toilets, streets, parks, girls, boys, balls, fountains, benches, looks, and language. Maybe it is because of multiple trips to the UK that the descriptions seem so real and the characters feel like friends and family. It is different from the scenario I grew up in, but not much. It makes me feel 15 again, my favorite age in life. The music and book titles resonate in my mind without having to hear or check them out again. The bad attitudes, parental guidance, bad food, depressing holidays, and unhappy separations are real. It is the first love that hangs in the back of your mind, not ever leaving completely, but also not dominating your thoughts. Only twisting your thinking and reigniting the flame of love that must have all the essential elements to burn when near, and only smolder forever in your heart. Nick and Greg make this a visual flame while dealing with the fire blanket world around them. Hiding either the love or the pain will not smother the love out of their hearts and minds. Only other opportunities and jealousy can extinguish it. See parts 2 and 3.
I am of a similar age as the main characters were at the time period used for the setting, and can relate well to the teenage development and confusion of life, family, friends, school, movies, music, plays, books, bars, toilets, streets, parks, girls, boys, balls, fountains, benches, looks, and language. Maybe it is because of multiple trips to the UK that the descriptions seem so real and the characters feel like friends and family. It is different from the scenario I grew up in, but not much. It makes me feel 15 again, my favorite age in life. The music and book titles resonate in my mind without having to hear or check them out again. The bad attitudes, parental guidance, bad food, depressing holidays, and unhappy separations are real. It is the first love that hangs in the back of your mind, not ever leaving completely, but also not dominating your thoughts. Only twisting your thinking and reigniting the flame of love that must have all the essential elements to burn when near, and only smolder forever in your heart. Nick and Greg make this a visual flame while dealing with the fire blanket world around them. Hiding either the love or the pain will not smother the love out of their hearts and minds. Only other opportunities and jealousy can extinguish it. See parts 2 and 3.
January 17, 2022
Have you ever been out driving at night in your car when you happen upon a railroad crossing, and you stop to look both ways, and there’s no train in sight, and then for no reason at all you realize you are teetering on the edge of despair, and you find yourself in a brief but intense sort of fugue state where you think “I could get out of my car right now and go lay across these train tracks and wait, surrounded by nothing but the cold dark night air, the simple yet brutal fact of my own mortality, and know that my ultimate end will soon be upon me”? Because those are the exact feelings I experienced while I was reading this book: bleak, hopeless distress and seemingly endless unhappiness. Fortunately, all I had to do to save myself was close my kindle and walk away.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews