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Seven Summer Nights
It’s 1946, and the dust of World War Two has just begun to settle. When famous archaeologist Rufus Denby returns to London, his life and reputation are as devastated as the city around him.
He’s used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can’t turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It’s a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living. With nothing but his satchel and a mongrel dog he’s rescued from a bomb site, he sets out to investigate an ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva.
It’s an ordinary task, but Droyton is in the hands of a most extraordinary vicar. The Reverend Archie Thorne has tasted action too, as a motorcycle-riding army chaplain, and is struggling to readjust to the little world around him. He’s a lonely man, and Rufus’s arrival soon sparks off in him a lifetime of repressed desires.
Rufus is a combat case, amnesiac and shellshocked. As he and Archie begin to unfold the archaeological mystery of Droyton, their growing friendship makes Rufus believe he might one day recapture his lost memories of the war, and find his way back from the edge of insanity to love.
It’s summer on the South Downs, the air full of sunshine and enchantment. And Rufus and Archie’s seven summer nights have just begun...
He’s used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can’t turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It’s a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living. With nothing but his satchel and a mongrel dog he’s rescued from a bomb site, he sets out to investigate an ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva.
It’s an ordinary task, but Droyton is in the hands of a most extraordinary vicar. The Reverend Archie Thorne has tasted action too, as a motorcycle-riding army chaplain, and is struggling to readjust to the little world around him. He’s a lonely man, and Rufus’s arrival soon sparks off in him a lifetime of repressed desires.
Rufus is a combat case, amnesiac and shellshocked. As he and Archie begin to unfold the archaeological mystery of Droyton, their growing friendship makes Rufus believe he might one day recapture his lost memories of the war, and find his way back from the edge of insanity to love.
It’s summer on the South Downs, the air full of sunshine and enchantment. And Rufus and Archie’s seven summer nights have just begun...
475 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 30, 2016
67 people are currently reading
1993 people want to read
About the author
Harper Fox
58 books1,176 followersHarper Fox is an M/M author with a mission. She’s produced six critically acclaimed novels in a year and is trying to dispel rumours that she has a clone/twin sister locked away in a study in her basement. In fact she simply continues working on what she loves best– creating worlds and stories for the huge cast of lovely gay men queuing up inside her head. She lives in rural Northumberland in northern England and does most of her writing at a pensioned-off kitchen table in her back garden, often with blanket and hot water bottle.
She lives with her SO Jane, who has somehow put up with her for a quarter of a century now, and three enigmatic cats, chief among whom is Lucy, who knows the secret of the universe but isn't letting on. When not writing, she either despairs or makes bread, specialities foccacia and her amazing seven-strand challah. If she has any other skills, she's yet to discover them.
She lives with her SO Jane, who has somehow put up with her for a quarter of a century now, and three enigmatic cats, chief among whom is Lucy, who knows the secret of the universe but isn't letting on. When not writing, she either despairs or makes bread, specialities foccacia and her amazing seven-strand challah. If she has any other skills, she's yet to discover them.
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February 6, 2017Finished this 6th January and will be surprised if I read a better romance this year. it really is fabulous. A magical book, where the setting is a character in itself, stunningly realised. Magical, mystical, grittily realist, deeply steeped in Englishness and folklore, and with a glorious vision of community and spiritual growth in it. (NB for those of a nervous disposition: the post-war-trauma set up sounds bleak, and at points it's almost unbearably tense, but you can put your faith in Harper Fox.) Archie and Rufus are lovely leads, but it's an ensemble book in an English countryside that ought to be.
A terrific performance from one of the very best historical romancers writing. Loved it.
A terrific performance from one of the very best historical romancers writing. Loved it.
January 1, 2022
Seven Summer Nights.
That's usually the time frame I need to read a book. But this one I managed to read in about 3 (Winter Days). And I mean, reading non-stop even through New Year's Eve.
What an insanely gorgeous story. Man, I knew Harper Fox was a great author, but this book went beyond anything I was hoping to find when I picked this up.
Did you ever look for MM romance that's like a loving homage to Indiana Jones, The Mists of Avalon, but with a bit of Agatha Christie thrown in?
I'm telling you, this is the right book for you.
As is bound to happen with any good book that guides us through a considerable amount of pages, I fell hopelessly in love with the characters. However, this story adds a wonderfully complex plot too that stole my breath away and kept me glued to my reader waiting to unveil secret after secret of this magical story.
Dr Rufus Denby is a renowned archeologist doing an excavation on a (fictional) Mediterranean island that in real life would probably be located where Gavros is, south of Crete.
The time is right after WW2 and Rufus is also a former Captain of the British forces who returned from a warzone in France after a terrible shrapnel incident nearly killed him and wiped out parts of his memory from the accident.
He still has flashbacks from time to time and sadly, when a new tunnel is opened on his excavation site, Rufus has a sudden episode and attacks a colleague, which causes his employer in London to bring him back on the spot and ultimately fire him.
Nobody really knows that due to various personal circumstances, Rufus is in fact completely broke and relied on his income from the museum, so he is grateful to his boss when she - right after firing him - offers him a minor and privately paid job researching a rural decrepit church somewhere in the Sussex countryside where her cousin, a vicar, is trying to prevent the diocese coming in with construction workers to remodel the old building and potentially destroy important medieval frescos in the process.
Relying on the meagre income this ridiculous job will bring, Rufus grabs his few belongings and takes a train to the parish of Droyton to take a look at the vicar's church.
Upon his arrival, he not only meets an outrageously unique set of characters, he also runs into the vicar himself, who isn't the old and bald fellow he pictures Reverend Archibald Thorne as.
Thorne, or Archie, as his friends address him, is a former army chaplain who is grappling with his faith and loves to get his hands dirty repairing his motorbike. That is, when he isn't chasing naked women through the graveyard at night.
It takes Seven Summer Nights for Rufus to find out the many secrets of Droyton and to accept the kindness and welcome the handsome priest offers to him.
And this summary doesn't even touch where this story will take the reader.
Archie and Rufus are an incredibly powerful couple. I loved them both so much. Archie, the sheltered priest who let others force him into marriage to hide his 'proclivities' from the world, the sobered war veteran who cannot believe his God would allow the atrocities of The Great War to happen, the kind soul who opens his rectory to anyone in need of a safe place and finally, the passionate man who finds a kindred soul in the famous Londoner who was sent to inspect the old church, igniting a passion in him that he hasn't known since his teenage years.
And Rufus, the wary and travelled academic who knows his way around life as a closeted homosexual in the 1940s and doesn't want to taint the handsome and caring priest with his sin, but also cannot resist Archie's positivity, boldness and affection.
Together they unveil a dark secret that the town of Droyton has been hiding generation after generation and discover the town's spiritual roots that are far older than Christianity.
This book was everything.
Underground places. Magic. Fairy Tales that are more real than you'd believe. It is the epitome of what your wildest fantasies may conjure up when visiting a sleepy English town in the countryside.
Yes, it is a long book. It's not just a romance between Archie and Rufus. They are just the main thread that is weaving a whole tapestry of plots and sub plots for a whole league of incredibly interesting characters.
But seriously, this book comes up with both amazing characters AND an excellent plot, so please don't miss out on it.
It's my first read in 2022 and already I know it will be one of my ten most favorite books that I will have the honor of discovering this year.
5 stars!
April 28, 2025
This is almost as close to perfect as I can imagine a post WWII historical romance being for me. Deeply heartfelt, bittersweet, emotional, yet full of love, support and healing…. I ate up Rufus and Archies love story like a woman on death row with her last meal.
Set in 1946, in the immediate aftermath of WWII, Dr Rufus Denby is trying to reacclimatize to regular life as a leading archaeologist for the British Royal Museum following his time as a Captain during the War. Unfortunately, Rufus is suffering heavily from PTSD from his experiences as one of the only surviving soldiers of a battle which went catastrophically wrong and during a flashback he attacks a colleague whilst on a dig site and he finds himself being sent home and relieved of his official duties.
following a brief hospital stay, Rufus is given the opportunity (and a lifeline) by his Deputy Director to visit a small village in Sussex, to assist her cousin, the local vicar, Reverend Archibold Thorn, with cataloging important archeological features of the site his church is on, due to pending renovation works due to commence, which would destroy any important historical features of the site.
This is a story told in 2 parts. Part 1 balances the emotional heaviness of exploring the themes of PTSD and trauma in soldiers returned from the war with a cozy environment of a small-town English countryside and a wonderful cast of strong supporting characters with found family vibes. There was definitely a more slice-of-life/ cozy element to this part of the story.
Part 2 ratcheted up the drama so effectively that even though I knew there was a HEA for Archie and Rufus, it made me forget that fact and had me on the edge of my seat biting my nails STRESSED.
I am a sucker for two characters with history and trauma finding in each other a safe port in the storm and the bond of friendship to lovers that Rufus and Archie, the pacifist soldier and the godless Reverend develop and share with each other is just SO wonderful.
This story had some great side characters too, one of my favourites was Alice Winborn, who faced her own struggles post war, being forced to return to the more traditional role of a society lady after having found meaningful work and identity during the war as a Land Girl.
The story has some light supernatural elements interwoven into the story with some medieval pagan magics. I didn’t mind these elements but at times they felt like they almost belonged to a different book. There were also some elements of the ending which I found a little unsatisfying, but not enough that it impacted my overall enjoyment of Archie and Rufus story together.
“Yes. Oh, Archie, it seems terrible to talk about it. To destroy your peace of mind with such a story.”
“You won’t. And even if you did, isn’t that part of my job from now on—to share your wars and your peace?”
Content warning for period specific attitudes of homophobia, misogyny, classism, mental health stigma and institutionalization.
Set in 1946, in the immediate aftermath of WWII, Dr Rufus Denby is trying to reacclimatize to regular life as a leading archaeologist for the British Royal Museum following his time as a Captain during the War. Unfortunately, Rufus is suffering heavily from PTSD from his experiences as one of the only surviving soldiers of a battle which went catastrophically wrong and during a flashback he attacks a colleague whilst on a dig site and he finds himself being sent home and relieved of his official duties.
following a brief hospital stay, Rufus is given the opportunity (and a lifeline) by his Deputy Director to visit a small village in Sussex, to assist her cousin, the local vicar, Reverend Archibold Thorn, with cataloging important archeological features of the site his church is on, due to pending renovation works due to commence, which would destroy any important historical features of the site.
This is a story told in 2 parts. Part 1 balances the emotional heaviness of exploring the themes of PTSD and trauma in soldiers returned from the war with a cozy environment of a small-town English countryside and a wonderful cast of strong supporting characters with found family vibes. There was definitely a more slice-of-life/ cozy element to this part of the story.
Part 2 ratcheted up the drama so effectively that even though I knew there was a HEA for Archie and Rufus, it made me forget that fact and had me on the edge of my seat biting my nails STRESSED.
I am a sucker for two characters with history and trauma finding in each other a safe port in the storm and the bond of friendship to lovers that Rufus and Archie, the pacifist soldier and the godless Reverend develop and share with each other is just SO wonderful.
This story had some great side characters too, one of my favourites was Alice Winborn, who faced her own struggles post war, being forced to return to the more traditional role of a society lady after having found meaningful work and identity during the war as a Land Girl.
The story has some light supernatural elements interwoven into the story with some medieval pagan magics. I didn’t mind these elements but at times they felt like they almost belonged to a different book. There were also some elements of the ending which I found a little unsatisfying, but not enough that it impacted my overall enjoyment of Archie and Rufus story together.
“Yes. Oh, Archie, it seems terrible to talk about it. To destroy your peace of mind with such a story.”
“You won’t. And even if you did, isn’t that part of my job from now on—to share your wars and your peace?”
Content warning for period specific attitudes of homophobia, misogyny, classism, mental health stigma and institutionalization.
June 2, 2020
Book: 4 stars and 1.5 stars (this will soon make sense, I promise)
Narration: 3 stars
Overall rating: 3 stars
What the hell was this? This felt like two entirely different books mashed into one, and it was discordant.
So you've got an archeologist who is suffering from selective amnesia and PTSD after WWII, and an atheist vicar (yes, you read that right) who is also suffering his own internal wounds from the war. They meet after Rufus is sent by the museum to help with an archeological study of the old church, and Rufus is immediately aware of how fricking weird things are in this town. But Archie's cute so let's not worry about the woo-woo too much, yeah?
I actually really liked all the stuff surrounding these two and their struggles to make sense of the war, and I liked how they helped each other with that. If the book had stayed about just that, I would've loved this a whole lot more, because it was easily the most interesting part of the book and there was enough material there to carry the story without need for anything else.
But Fox just had to go in and dump this nonsensical fantasy element with these priestesses and some bad juju under the church (but only the menfolk feel it) and a labyrinth that magically fixes whatever you deem is wrong with you and it just all got too out of whack and off-balance. I have no idea why this element was here.
Okay, okay, so it's there because of the archeological dig, obviously. But it never felt like a natural part of the story. It kept distracting me and taking away from the other parts of the story I was interested in. Surely, there must have been some other interesting thing to do with the dig subplot that would have made more sense. It didn't even really, in the end, have much to do with the MCs at all. About the only thing the MCs do to impact this subplot is reveal the hole under the church. Otherwise, you could remove the MCs entirely and that subplot would've played out the exact same way. Why is this element in this story?
The narrator, Chris Clog, is new to me. He did alright. Could've used some more distinction between voice but he was generally okay to follow along with.
Narration: 3 stars
Overall rating: 3 stars
What the hell was this? This felt like two entirely different books mashed into one, and it was discordant.
So you've got an archeologist who is suffering from selective amnesia and PTSD after WWII, and an atheist vicar (yes, you read that right) who is also suffering his own internal wounds from the war. They meet after Rufus is sent by the museum to help with an archeological study of the old church, and Rufus is immediately aware of how fricking weird things are in this town. But Archie's cute so let's not worry about the woo-woo too much, yeah?
I actually really liked all the stuff surrounding these two and their struggles to make sense of the war, and I liked how they helped each other with that. If the book had stayed about just that, I would've loved this a whole lot more, because it was easily the most interesting part of the book and there was enough material there to carry the story without need for anything else.
But Fox just had to go in and dump this nonsensical fantasy element with these priestesses and some bad juju under the church (but only the menfolk feel it) and a labyrinth that magically fixes whatever you deem is wrong with you and it just all got too out of whack and off-balance. I have no idea why this element was here.
Okay, okay, so it's there because of the archeological dig, obviously. But it never felt like a natural part of the story. It kept distracting me and taking away from the other parts of the story I was interested in. Surely, there must have been some other interesting thing to do with the dig subplot that would have made more sense. It didn't even really, in the end, have much to do with the MCs at all. About the only thing the MCs do to impact this subplot is reveal the hole under the church. Otherwise, you could remove the MCs entirely and that subplot would've played out the exact same way. Why is this element in this story?
The narrator, Chris Clog, is new to me. He did alright. Could've used some more distinction between voice but he was generally okay to follow along with.
December 6, 2016
Sometimes you feel like your favourite authors are stagnating, or you start to see the repeating themes in their work, but this book took Harper Fox to another level for me.
All her books have a strong feeling of place and a spirituality, and this is no exception, the setting of a hazy shimmering post WWII British countryside sucks you in, as does the vicar who says he's lost his faith but has humanity, compassion and understanding flooding out of him.
The combination of the place, mythology and spirituality vs. organised rigid religion, the horrors of the time as they were for queer men in particular combined with the love story of two men who find each other, never thinking that they would be able to love, and hold on tight.
More of a review later, on the blog but this is a special book
All her books have a strong feeling of place and a spirituality, and this is no exception, the setting of a hazy shimmering post WWII British countryside sucks you in, as does the vicar who says he's lost his faith but has humanity, compassion and understanding flooding out of him.
The combination of the place, mythology and spirituality vs. organised rigid religion, the horrors of the time as they were for queer men in particular combined with the love story of two men who find each other, never thinking that they would be able to love, and hold on tight.
More of a review later, on the blog but this is a special book
May 23, 2025
5.0 ⭐️ Re-read 05/2025 (audiobook)
Beautiful post-war love story with mystical, paranormal elements and wonderful female side characters. Simply amazing. ♥️
He opened up his arms and let Rufus fall into them, blind and choking. “Here we are,” he said roughly against his ear, rocking him. “No more gods, no more war. I’m not a vicar, and you... you’re not a soldier. Never again. There’s just us, dear fellow—here we are.” 🥹😍
************
“[…] Most of the men I know won’t have the least idea how to cope with strong, independent females.” 😂
************
“Oh God, I feel like I’m going to die of you. I’ll fuck you, I swear, and you can fuck me, and the world can go...”
“Fuck itself?” Archie supplied, tasting the new word like delicious, dirty fruit. 😂❤️🔥
************
“Oh, Archie. You and I both know—everyone who went to war knows—the one thing none of us can be sure of is time. But however much I have, long or short—it’s yours.” 🥰
Beautiful post-war love story with mystical, paranormal elements and wonderful female side characters. Simply amazing. ♥️
He opened up his arms and let Rufus fall into them, blind and choking. “Here we are,” he said roughly against his ear, rocking him. “No more gods, no more war. I’m not a vicar, and you... you’re not a soldier. Never again. There’s just us, dear fellow—here we are.” 🥹😍
************
“[…] Most of the men I know won’t have the least idea how to cope with strong, independent females.” 😂
************
“Oh God, I feel like I’m going to die of you. I’ll fuck you, I swear, and you can fuck me, and the world can go...”
“Fuck itself?” Archie supplied, tasting the new word like delicious, dirty fruit. 😂❤️🔥
************
“Oh, Archie. You and I both know—everyone who went to war knows—the one thing none of us can be sure of is time. But however much I have, long or short—it’s yours.” 🥰
December 8, 2016
4.75 stars
Exquisitely written post-WW II love story
This is the story of a vicar who is everything to the villagers in his town but who has lost his faith. And it's the story of an archaeologist traumatized by parts of the war that he can't remember. On the one hand, this is about the perfect, beautiful, slow-building romance between the two. Yet, the scope of this story is so much bigger than just a romance. It's about post-WW II life in small-town England and the perils of being queer at this time and it's filled with archaeological mysteries and mysticism. Don't forget the nail-biting action and adventure as well! This is really so beautifully written and Ms. Fox seems to capture perfectly the atmosphere of the time period. Truly one of the best historical m/m romances I've read in a long time and I highly recommend it!
Exquisitely written post-WW II love story
This is the story of a vicar who is everything to the villagers in his town but who has lost his faith. And it's the story of an archaeologist traumatized by parts of the war that he can't remember. On the one hand, this is about the perfect, beautiful, slow-building romance between the two. Yet, the scope of this story is so much bigger than just a romance. It's about post-WW II life in small-town England and the perils of being queer at this time and it's filled with archaeological mysteries and mysticism. Don't forget the nail-biting action and adventure as well! This is really so beautifully written and Ms. Fox seems to capture perfectly the atmosphere of the time period. Truly one of the best historical m/m romances I've read in a long time and I highly recommend it!
February 5, 2017
4.5 rounded up.
Harper Fox starts from such a high level, that even though I deducted a star or two, she still is a 5* read. It is a bloody pleasure to read a romance and m/m author who can write, and I mean on every level: a fabulous prose, a gripping narration, a great rollicking story, angst and suspense to put you on the edge unable to put down the book, truly wonderful and diverse characters and a satisfying conclusion.
While I didn't care for some aspects (the way the lesbian couple was set up and how incredibly full and fast the plot and story was, as if a 1000 page whopper was crammed into a 400 page book, or the PNR aspect of it), Fox is without doubt one of the best romance authors out there and certainly doing in m/m what R. Lee Smith has been doing in m/f: redeeming the genre for demanding readers.
Wholeheartedly recommended!
Harper Fox starts from such a high level, that even though I deducted a star or two, she still is a 5* read. It is a bloody pleasure to read a romance and m/m author who can write, and I mean on every level: a fabulous prose, a gripping narration, a great rollicking story, angst and suspense to put you on the edge unable to put down the book, truly wonderful and diverse characters and a satisfying conclusion.
While I didn't care for some aspects (the way the lesbian couple was set up and how incredibly full and fast the plot and story was, as if a 1000 page whopper was crammed into a 400 page book, or the PNR aspect of it), Fox is without doubt one of the best romance authors out there and certainly doing in m/m what R. Lee Smith has been doing in m/f: redeeming the genre for demanding readers.
Wholeheartedly recommended!
May 24, 2025
This book made me slow down — not just physically, but mentally. Some books ask to be read; this one asked to be experienced. At first, I thought I was bored (up until around 30%), but I wasn’t reading it right. I wasn’t present. Once I adjusted my pace, letting the words really sink in, everything shifted.
It took me five days to finish — very unusual for me. I’m a fast reader, but this one demanded patience. It reminded me a lot of how I felt reading Brothers of the North Sea: detached, admiring the story from a distance rather than being fully immersed. I think Harper Fox’s writing requires a very specific mood, and knowing myself... I’m not often in that place. Sadly :(
Once I found my rhythm, I appreciated it more — though the narrative still felt like wandering through a foggy moor. But that worked, because Rufus’s mind is exactly that: foggy, broken, guilt-ridden. And I love him. I want him to have peace more than anything. He deserves it.
The structure is bold — two parts, with the first (“The Labyrinth”) told entirely from Rufus’s POV. It makes sense thematically, but it also made the story feel unbalanced. I kept waiting for Archie’s voice, and when it finally came in part two? The fog lifted. Archie is just... incredible. A pure, stubbornly kind soul with a quiet strength, and his POV brought a needed breath of air — even when he was stressing about saving his old chap 😅
And I loved Archie’s inexperience but enthusiasm, his eagerness to love, to learn, to heal. I loved Rufus finally receiving love without boundaries, no conditions. That moment when Rufus started clearing his mind — letting go of the guilt and confusion — it was so powerful. And the rescue scene? Incredible. I was holding my breath the entire time. Also, can we talk about the bike ride? The imagery, the sense of freedom, the escape — it was so good.
I really enjoyed the mystical, paranormal thread running through the story. There are little inexplicable events all throughout, and the wrap-up doesn’t over-explain them, which I appreciated. It added a beautiful, eerie undertone that worked so well.
The historical theories and little facts scattered throughout also added something special. It felt like the past was constantly bleeding into the present — echoing Rufus’s own experience of being haunted by what came before.
Now, about the intimate scenes… I struggled. The emotional buildup was there, the love was believable — but the scenes themselves felt oddly cluttered with unnecessary small talk or tangents that broke the mood. I felt disconnected from those moments. I believe in their love, I really do, and I trust their future. But I was hoping for something more raw and immersive. Sigh…
That said, the slow, dreamlike pace of the first 70% actually made the last 30% hit so much harder. And wow — it did. Fuck the Brigadier. Fuck Rosemary (though she kind of redeemed herself). And fuck Winborn too. The rage I felt toward these people was visceral.
Rufus and Archie are two damaged souls, but what they build is real. It happens fast — six days, an “I love you” — but it felt earned. They were both so starved for care, for someone who saw them, that once they did, there was no turning back.
And the found family? Beautiful. Maria, Drusilla, Adrasta, Alice, later David — and of course, the battle-scarred pup Pippin. They made the world warmer. The women especially — so powerful, independent, complex — I adored them.
It’s not a perfect book. It’s slow, heavy, and sometimes frustrating. But it’s also full of love, pain, magic, and hope. It made me work for it, but in the end, it gave me something that stayed.
"I’ll always be this way,” he said roughly, turning to Archie. “If you won’t be shaken off, you’ll have to be this way too. Forever and ever.”
Archie caught his breath. “Forever and ever, Rufus?”
“You heard me.”(...)
"Don’t you feel trapped?”
“Not with you. With you, a purer freedom than anything I’ve ever known.”
It took me five days to finish — very unusual for me. I’m a fast reader, but this one demanded patience. It reminded me a lot of how I felt reading Brothers of the North Sea: detached, admiring the story from a distance rather than being fully immersed. I think Harper Fox’s writing requires a very specific mood, and knowing myself... I’m not often in that place. Sadly :(
Once I found my rhythm, I appreciated it more — though the narrative still felt like wandering through a foggy moor. But that worked, because Rufus’s mind is exactly that: foggy, broken, guilt-ridden. And I love him. I want him to have peace more than anything. He deserves it.
The structure is bold — two parts, with the first (“The Labyrinth”) told entirely from Rufus’s POV. It makes sense thematically, but it also made the story feel unbalanced. I kept waiting for Archie’s voice, and when it finally came in part two? The fog lifted. Archie is just... incredible. A pure, stubbornly kind soul with a quiet strength, and his POV brought a needed breath of air — even when he was stressing about saving his old chap 😅
And I loved Archie’s inexperience but enthusiasm, his eagerness to love, to learn, to heal. I loved Rufus finally receiving love without boundaries, no conditions. That moment when Rufus started clearing his mind — letting go of the guilt and confusion — it was so powerful. And the rescue scene? Incredible. I was holding my breath the entire time. Also, can we talk about the bike ride? The imagery, the sense of freedom, the escape — it was so good.
I really enjoyed the mystical, paranormal thread running through the story. There are little inexplicable events all throughout, and the wrap-up doesn’t over-explain them, which I appreciated. It added a beautiful, eerie undertone that worked so well.
The historical theories and little facts scattered throughout also added something special. It felt like the past was constantly bleeding into the present — echoing Rufus’s own experience of being haunted by what came before.
Now, about the intimate scenes… I struggled. The emotional buildup was there, the love was believable — but the scenes themselves felt oddly cluttered with unnecessary small talk or tangents that broke the mood. I felt disconnected from those moments. I believe in their love, I really do, and I trust their future. But I was hoping for something more raw and immersive. Sigh…
That said, the slow, dreamlike pace of the first 70% actually made the last 30% hit so much harder. And wow — it did. Fuck the Brigadier. Fuck Rosemary (though she kind of redeemed herself). And fuck Winborn too. The rage I felt toward these people was visceral.
Rufus and Archie are two damaged souls, but what they build is real. It happens fast — six days, an “I love you” — but it felt earned. They were both so starved for care, for someone who saw them, that once they did, there was no turning back.
And the found family? Beautiful. Maria, Drusilla, Adrasta, Alice, later David — and of course, the battle-scarred pup Pippin. They made the world warmer. The women especially — so powerful, independent, complex — I adored them.
It’s not a perfect book. It’s slow, heavy, and sometimes frustrating. But it’s also full of love, pain, magic, and hope. It made me work for it, but in the end, it gave me something that stayed.
"I’ll always be this way,” he said roughly, turning to Archie. “If you won’t be shaken off, you’ll have to be this way too. Forever and ever.”
Archie caught his breath. “Forever and ever, Rufus?”
“You heard me.”(...)
"Don’t you feel trapped?”
“Not with you. With you, a purer freedom than anything I’ve ever known.”
January 2, 2017
4.5 stars, rounded up because Harper Fox's writing and characters are among my favorites in the genre. This is a lovely magic-tinged post-WWII historical fantasy. Rufus Denby returned from active service with a significant case of shell-shock/PTSD. He has some minor amnesia about the worst episode. At times, he has nightmares he can't wake up from, and he strikes out in unpredictable ways. After a bad reaction on an important dig, he's recalled to England, and sent to investigate a church that might have some historical significance.
Although the job seems designed to keep him quietly out of the way, Rufus is relieved to take it on. He's at the end of his mental, emotional, and financial rope, when he travels to investigate the ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva. There he comes into the orbit of the Reverend Archie Thorne, a young vicar whose own service overseas gives him some insight into Rufus's troubles.
The Reverend Archie collects waifs and strays, bolstering his faltering faith by doing good works. Among them are a woman whose bouts of apparent madness have a deeper meaning, a child whose future is stranger than it seems, a young man who looks like a young woman, and more. The fates of the two war-weary men are bound together, but they will have to fight domestic enemies and their own natures to move forward.
I really loved the historical and relationship parts of this story. I also grew very attached to the characters, particularly the main characters, and the housekeeper. This was a wonderfully long book, with a plot that had both emotion and action in it. Harper Fox's command of atmospheric language is as strong as ever.
In a way, I think I'd have loved this more had it been fully a historical, without the fantasy elements. In several places, the fantasy component eliminated obstacles and smoothed paths in a way that would otherwise have been impossible. At least there was real actual magic, not just romantic tropes, to account for the magical healing that took place a couple of times, but since I'm a big fan of angst, I was less fond of seeing obstacles to happiness swept away with the ease of fantasy. And the homophobia of the era was more alluded to than actually validated by the secondary characters in the book (whose acceptance was lovely, but lent a bit of additional unreality to the story.)
Those quibbles aside, this goes onto my starter list for favorite reads of 2017. I adored Archie, and really felt for Rufus in his ethical dilemmas, and his desire for a safe warm place and a loving man within it. The ending was unexpected enough to be fun, and happy enough to be satisfying. And I really enjoyed getting a range of strong female secondary characters in an M/M story. This goes on my reread shelf.
Although the job seems designed to keep him quietly out of the way, Rufus is relieved to take it on. He's at the end of his mental, emotional, and financial rope, when he travels to investigate the ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva. There he comes into the orbit of the Reverend Archie Thorne, a young vicar whose own service overseas gives him some insight into Rufus's troubles.
The Reverend Archie collects waifs and strays, bolstering his faltering faith by doing good works. Among them are a woman whose bouts of apparent madness have a deeper meaning, a child whose future is stranger than it seems, a young man who looks like a young woman, and more. The fates of the two war-weary men are bound together, but they will have to fight domestic enemies and their own natures to move forward.
I really loved the historical and relationship parts of this story. I also grew very attached to the characters, particularly the main characters, and the housekeeper. This was a wonderfully long book, with a plot that had both emotion and action in it. Harper Fox's command of atmospheric language is as strong as ever.
In a way, I think I'd have loved this more had it been fully a historical, without the fantasy elements. In several places, the fantasy component eliminated obstacles and smoothed paths in a way that would otherwise have been impossible. At least there was real actual magic, not just romantic tropes, to account for the magical healing that took place a couple of times, but since I'm a big fan of angst, I was less fond of seeing obstacles to happiness swept away with the ease of fantasy. And the homophobia of the era was more alluded to than actually validated by the secondary characters in the book (whose acceptance was lovely, but lent a bit of additional unreality to the story.)
Those quibbles aside, this goes onto my starter list for favorite reads of 2017. I adored Archie, and really felt for Rufus in his ethical dilemmas, and his desire for a safe warm place and a loving man within it. The ending was unexpected enough to be fun, and happy enough to be satisfying. And I really enjoyed getting a range of strong female secondary characters in an M/M story. This goes on my reread shelf.
September 3, 2018
For years I thought I didn't have one romantic bone in my body. I disliked stories with an HEA or HFN kinda ending and I loved to wallow in wretchedly depressing narratives. That's still the case, really, but lately I've also started enjoying reading stories that don't necessarily leave me an emotional wreck when I reach the last page ( As Meat Loves Salt, I'm looking at you!). All this preamble to say that Harper Fox's Seven Summer Nights perfectly suited my newly-discovered enjoyment of stories with a hopeful and positive conclusion.
The first three quarters of the novel are simply perfect. The world building of Droyton Parva, with its welcoming rectory and mysterious church, kept me totally gripped. It's a world made of quietly silent country lanes, rolling 'sunlit uplands' and beautiful orchards. At the same time, though, this world hides a series of secrets and personal miseries () that the author uncovers at a slow but steady pace. The grim cloak of WWII provides a layer of melancholy to the story that it's impossible to shake off.
The cast of characters, starting with the two wonderful MCs, is rich and engrossing. I won't forget the Atheist vicar Archie and the confused, sorrowful Dr Denby soon. I also very much enjoyed the presence of a number of strong-willed and splendidly portrayed female characters.
I really loved the spirituality and sense of internal discovery that infuses this first part of the book.
The last quarter of the novel was more action-packed and, although I still enjoyed it, I've found it slightly less compelling than the rest. In a way, this novel reminded me a little of G.N. Chevalier's Bonds of Earth where a beautifully meditative first part is followed by a section more focused on events that was, in my opinion, not as satisfying.
The book is beautifully written and places great attention to historical and archaeological details and if you're looking for a novel that is sad, hopeful, sensual and engrossing, this may be the book for you!
I'd certainly recommend it and as of today (5th May 2018) I've decided to update all my reviews of Harper Fox's novels to 5 stars. They're amazingly written, engaging, with great characters and they bloody deserve full ratings!
The first three quarters of the novel are simply perfect. The world building of Droyton Parva, with its welcoming rectory and mysterious church, kept me totally gripped. It's a world made of quietly silent country lanes, rolling 'sunlit uplands' and beautiful orchards. At the same time, though, this world hides a series of secrets and personal miseries () that the author uncovers at a slow but steady pace. The grim cloak of WWII provides a layer of melancholy to the story that it's impossible to shake off.
The cast of characters, starting with the two wonderful MCs, is rich and engrossing. I won't forget the Atheist vicar Archie and the confused, sorrowful Dr Denby soon. I also very much enjoyed the presence of a number of strong-willed and splendidly portrayed female characters.
I really loved the spirituality and sense of internal discovery that infuses this first part of the book.
The last quarter of the novel was more action-packed and, although I still enjoyed it, I've found it slightly less compelling than the rest. In a way, this novel reminded me a little of G.N. Chevalier's Bonds of Earth where a beautifully meditative first part is followed by a section more focused on events that was, in my opinion, not as satisfying.
The book is beautifully written and places great attention to historical and archaeological details and if you're looking for a novel that is sad, hopeful, sensual and engrossing, this may be the book for you!
I'd certainly recommend it and as of today (5th May 2018) I've decided to update all my reviews of Harper Fox's novels to 5 stars. They're amazingly written, engaging, with great characters and they bloody deserve full ratings!
July 29, 2022
The narration by Chris Clog [not Kris Dyer...unless they're one and the same person of course 😏] was as scrumptious as the story. Quintessentially English, utterly charming and an absolute delight to listen to. Think that says it all, well done to all concerned.
**Book Review**
My second Harper Fox read, the other being Brothers of the Wild North Sea, and straight onto my creme-de-la-creme shelf for you, my beauty. Utterly scrumptious, sumptuous prose and world building that really did make you feel as though you were on the Sussex Downs, staying at the Rectory in Droyton Parva with Archie, Mrs Nettles, Drusilla and Elspeth. There was a thoroughly English kind of The Darling Buds Of May feel to the whole story, light hearted but deadly serious when it needed to be. 5 captivating stars from me.
Archaeology not my strongest subject [and that's putting it mildly 😉], but even *I* was caught up in the excitement that the finds at the church generated, and to meld that storyline with sharp social commentary on the draconian post WWII British homosexuality laws; free spirits; self-appointed Witch finders and their victims; surviving soldiers from the war, their PTSD and the painful shock treatment they had to undergo, and of course, soldiers who had gone mad in the trenches and started shooting their comrades....well, that's the mark of a really good author; the most beautiful thing for me though was Rufus and Archie's love story. How they overcame prejudice from so-called do-gooders and found their own 'family' of friends in spite of everything that happened, was a joy to read about. Highly recommended, hardly any sex and a truly lovely read.
March 31, 2017
4.5 historical stars rounded up because still no 1/2 stars here on GR and this one was too good to do anything else with.
I think the world might have tilted on it's axis a bit...
Oh, Ms Fox how I adore your writing. You bring stories to life for me as few other authors are able to.
This one started on a bit of a challenging note for me. It was ok and I was enjoying it...possibly because "Buddy Read" with my awesome besties Josy and Christelle and initially I think perhaps this story was appealing more to them than me on a certain level. But as always I was still being drawn in by the wonderful word poetry of Ms Fox and that alone was enough to keep me reading but needless to say the more I was drawn into this web of words the more I wanted to read until I found myself happily devouring this story.
This is not a simple story about a post-war romance between two men...oh no, it's not even close to that because for one thing a romance between two men at that time in history didn't have a snowballs chance in 'you know where' of being simple.
While the story between Rufus and Archibald (Thorne for the remainder of this review) is very much the main and central part of the story. It is surrounded by a explosion of colorful and often 'eccentric' characters set mainly in a small English countryside village. The struggles that are faced by both Rufus and Thorne on an individual level and as two men trying to find a place for their fragile relationship in a world that would see them jailed or worse for their feelings, for sharing words spoken in the still of night as gentle as a summers breeze meant only to offer comfort and ease...
'Seven Summer Nights' shows us a world that many of us never knew first hand, some like myself may have a bit of second-hand knowledge because of parents and grandparents.
Much of this book was ironically a reminder for me of why I'm not a huge fan of historical novels not because they're bad or uninteresting...in fact quite the contrary. I love history but unfortunately with history comes the reminders of the wrongs and injustices that have been committed and so often these transgressions are hidden behind such noble causes as God, King and country forcing men who would live in a world of tolerance and peace to fight those would control it through fear, bigotry and sheer brute force. This is what happened to Rufus and when he could fight no more his mind chose to forget. Ironically Thorne who is a man of god also fought but his terrors were not so dark and his memories were very different than that of Rufus.
Two men fighting for the basic rights and freedoms of the same people who would deny them theirs. Just as they would deny the women who did their part their rights (it wasn't until 1928 that British women achieved full suffrage 3 years after the end of WWII and while this is an incredibly interesting topic...google is your friend). This is the setting of 'Seven Summer Nights' but we're not done yet because as well as the climate of the times Ms Fox has given us glimpses of Britain's cultural background through it's archaeology and it's folklore. We see the intertwining of England's religion with it's pre-christian days. There are subtle references to Anglo-Saxon paganism, England's witch hunts during the 1640s and things don't end there we are also reminded of the nightmare that passed for modern medicine specifically psychiatry during the early 1900's.
You're probably thinking this sounds like a lot of gloom and doom right about now but it wasn't because woven in between these things was the strength of the human spirit and it's struggle for love in the form of Rufus and Thorne, the desire to govern ourselves and make our own decisions in the form Thorne's sister Caroline, Alice Winborn, Giles. There were characters of strength and courage in Maria who quietly took charge and gave people what they needed, Drusilla whose struggle to find her way back to herself, her child and her faith nearly cost her sanity and of course there were those who should have been hero's and failed.
'Seven Summer Nights' is neither a simple nor an easy story to read or explain...was it fantasy? No, not for me, there were no magical creatures...was there magic? I suppose of a fashion there was, but it was the magic of a world long gone. A world of faith so strong that it could alter the very fabric of ones reality...so yes there was magic. Then again isn't there always a little magic involved when it only takes words to transport us through time and space to a place we've never known to share an adventure with people we'll never meet? You're a wizard Ms Fox, a wizard I tell you.
I think the world might have tilted on it's axis a bit...
Oh, Ms Fox how I adore your writing. You bring stories to life for me as few other authors are able to.
This one started on a bit of a challenging note for me. It was ok and I was enjoying it...possibly because "Buddy Read" with my awesome besties Josy and Christelle and initially I think perhaps this story was appealing more to them than me on a certain level. But as always I was still being drawn in by the wonderful word poetry of Ms Fox and that alone was enough to keep me reading but needless to say the more I was drawn into this web of words the more I wanted to read until I found myself happily devouring this story.
This is not a simple story about a post-war romance between two men...oh no, it's not even close to that because for one thing a romance between two men at that time in history didn't have a snowballs chance in 'you know where' of being simple.
While the story between Rufus and Archibald (Thorne for the remainder of this review) is very much the main and central part of the story. It is surrounded by a explosion of colorful and often 'eccentric' characters set mainly in a small English countryside village. The struggles that are faced by both Rufus and Thorne on an individual level and as two men trying to find a place for their fragile relationship in a world that would see them jailed or worse for their feelings, for sharing words spoken in the still of night as gentle as a summers breeze meant only to offer comfort and ease...
"No more gods, no more war. I'm not a vicar, and you...you're not a soldier.
Never again. There's just us, dear fellow---here we are."
'Seven Summer Nights' shows us a world that many of us never knew first hand, some like myself may have a bit of second-hand knowledge because of parents and grandparents.
Much of this book was ironically a reminder for me of why I'm not a huge fan of historical novels not because they're bad or uninteresting...in fact quite the contrary. I love history but unfortunately with history comes the reminders of the wrongs and injustices that have been committed and so often these transgressions are hidden behind such noble causes as God, King and country forcing men who would live in a world of tolerance and peace to fight those would control it through fear, bigotry and sheer brute force. This is what happened to Rufus and when he could fight no more his mind chose to forget. Ironically Thorne who is a man of god also fought but his terrors were not so dark and his memories were very different than that of Rufus.
"Yes. Oh, Archie, it seems terrible to talk about it.
To destroy your peace of mind with such a story."
"You won't. And even if you did, isn't that part of my job from now on--
to share your wars and your peace?"
Two men fighting for the basic rights and freedoms of the same people who would deny them theirs. Just as they would deny the women who did their part their rights (it wasn't until 1928 that British women achieved full suffrage 3 years after the end of WWII and while this is an incredibly interesting topic...google is your friend). This is the setting of 'Seven Summer Nights' but we're not done yet because as well as the climate of the times Ms Fox has given us glimpses of Britain's cultural background through it's archaeology and it's folklore. We see the intertwining of England's religion with it's pre-christian days. There are subtle references to Anglo-Saxon paganism, England's witch hunts during the 1640s and things don't end there we are also reminded of the nightmare that passed for modern medicine specifically psychiatry during the early 1900's.
You're probably thinking this sounds like a lot of gloom and doom right about now but it wasn't because woven in between these things was the strength of the human spirit and it's struggle for love in the form of Rufus and Thorne, the desire to govern ourselves and make our own decisions in the form Thorne's sister Caroline, Alice Winborn, Giles. There were characters of strength and courage in Maria who quietly took charge and gave people what they needed, Drusilla whose struggle to find her way back to herself, her child and her faith nearly cost her sanity and of course there were those who should have been hero's and failed.
'Seven Summer Nights' is neither a simple nor an easy story to read or explain...was it fantasy? No, not for me, there were no magical creatures...was there magic? I suppose of a fashion there was, but it was the magic of a world long gone. A world of faith so strong that it could alter the very fabric of ones reality...so yes there was magic. Then again isn't there always a little magic involved when it only takes words to transport us through time and space to a place we've never known to share an adventure with people we'll never meet? You're a wizard Ms Fox, a wizard I tell you.
"Oh, Archie. You and I both know--everyone who went to war knows--
the one thing none of us can be sure of is time..."
August 20, 2022
Namaste In Bed & Read Elf, you are awesome (and your name is great, lol)! Thank you sooo much for this book!! I love Harper Fox :)
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The writing in this book was as great as ever when it comes to Harper Fox and I really enjoyed reading this book because of that.
BUT I didn't get the story. This was a mix of historical romance and fantasy that confused the hell out of me. Honestly, I didn't know what half the story was about. Now I'm not sure how to rate it because it's not the book's fault if I lack the knowledge to understand it right? After thinking long and hard about it, I'm going with 3 stars. 4 stars for the parts that I got - like the romance and the historical elements - and 2 stars for the fantastical, magical parts that I just couldn't relate to.
This book tackles a lot of issues in this post-WW II period of time: dealing with being anything other than "straight", the place and rights of women in society, horrible treatments from so-called doctors, aligning who you are with your religion and belief in God, PTSD.
But there is also... Magic? Witchcraft? I'm not sure what to call it and like I said, I didn't understand most of what was going on when these fantastical elements came into play.
I think I would have loved the story a lot more had it been either historical or fantasy. But the mix didn't really work for me and sometimes it felt like the magic was used to clear obstacles that otherwise wouldn't have been so easy to overcome.
The slow-building relationship between Archie and Rufus was lovely and I adored them both. Also, there was a host of secondary characters that added so much depth to the story.
So, the story was great and the writing was exceptional but I didn't get some of the going-ons. At one point I tried to just go with it without trying to understand it and that seemed to work. Also, I had my lovely ladies Karen and Christelle with me who tried very patiently to explain things to me, lol! Thank you, ladies :)
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The writing in this book was as great as ever when it comes to Harper Fox and I really enjoyed reading this book because of that.
BUT I didn't get the story. This was a mix of historical romance and fantasy that confused the hell out of me. Honestly, I didn't know what half the story was about. Now I'm not sure how to rate it because it's not the book's fault if I lack the knowledge to understand it right? After thinking long and hard about it, I'm going with 3 stars. 4 stars for the parts that I got - like the romance and the historical elements - and 2 stars for the fantastical, magical parts that I just couldn't relate to.
This book tackles a lot of issues in this post-WW II period of time: dealing with being anything other than "straight", the place and rights of women in society, horrible treatments from so-called doctors, aligning who you are with your religion and belief in God, PTSD.
But there is also... Magic? Witchcraft? I'm not sure what to call it and like I said, I didn't understand most of what was going on when these fantastical elements came into play.
I think I would have loved the story a lot more had it been either historical or fantasy. But the mix didn't really work for me and sometimes it felt like the magic was used to clear obstacles that otherwise wouldn't have been so easy to overcome.
The slow-building relationship between Archie and Rufus was lovely and I adored them both. Also, there was a host of secondary characters that added so much depth to the story.
So, the story was great and the writing was exceptional but I didn't get some of the going-ons. At one point I tried to just go with it without trying to understand it and that seemed to work. Also, I had my lovely ladies Karen and Christelle with me who tried very patiently to explain things to me, lol! Thank you, ladies :)
December 25, 2016
Joint review between Sally and myself.........
Sally: Sometimes you get some news that’s downheartening - tax bills, an odd sound from the car engine, a suspicious puddle by the washing machine, an even more suspicious one by the cat - and sometimes you get something much, much better, like word of a new release from Harper Fox!
And what a release. Seven Summer Nights is a historical romance, but so much more! There’s the immediate post war period of the late 1940s where traumatised young people tried to fit back into civilian life, there’s the bleak prospects faced by those who suffered from PTSD, which had not yet been recognised as a legitimate concern, there’s the boom in archaeology, and above all there is love, all displayed for our delectation in Harper’s beautiful prose.
Mark: Yes Sally, beautiful prose is exactly it. Harper is a real wordsmith and just like an artist Harper can paint the most breath-taking scenes and awaken emotions in me with her words which make reading a pure joy. This is a broad sweeping historical romance but the period is not so “historical” that I feel almost anyone can still connect with it even if one doesn’t normally read historical novels. It's still modern enough to be able to connect with the time and setting very easily.
The intricacy of the plot is incredible. We have the mystical but not overdone, ethereal in its presence, you know there is something bubbling under the surface until everything comes to light at the end. An ancient mystery waiting to be solved, we have the historical aspect with the time period, archaeology and the abhorrent attitudes in this time towards homosexuality, mental illness, PTSD, faith in religion or lack of and small minded rural life. A lot of issues in one book. All this wrapped up in a wonderful, delicious plot that had me breaking my bedtime curfew just to read further. Anyway, time for me to stop waxing lyrical otherwise you’ll never get a chance. So changing the subject, I would love to know what you think about our MCs?
Sally: I think I have to start with Rufus, since it’s he who we meet first. Also I have a very big soft spot for archaeologists. He seems such a nice lad - delighted to be back in harness after a very stressful war, and tolerating the leadership of a man he disagrees with on almost every professional point, and many cultural and humanitarian ones as well. Rufus has insight - blurred a little with disuse - and a huge but benign curiosity. He wants to record and understand, rather than plunder. He’s also horribly lonely on a private and personal level. He really needs to find the right kind of man - and that’s where Archie comes in. Oh Archie - one of those types who used to be called muscular Christians, someone who is completely trustworthy in every situation [apart from a tendency to gloss over his passion for motorbikes - a very unsuitable mode of transport for a priest]. He served in the war too, and that gives him a valuable insight into Rufus’s condition. I honestly couldn’t say which of them I enjoyed most, Mark. How about you?
Mark: I loved the two MCs, both damaged in their very own ways. Rufus suffering from PTSD and loss of memory which leads him sometimes to violent outbursts where he can’t remember anything when he comes around. But regaining his memory will lead to the key of a mystery that will shed the shackles of his past and allow him to move forward. This leads him into a life threatening situation towards the end of the book where his only hope will be Archie, his love and resolve not give up on their relationship.
Then we have Archie, the village vicar, also a war veteran who served as a pastor in the military during the war. He is also fighting his own demons. A clergyman who has lost his faith but is still the milk of kindness to everyone needing shelter. Goes to show that a dog collar doesn’t make a person good by default. His vicarage is like a halfway house to so many troubled souls but people who all have their own story to tell. True to the time the romance is a slow-build as at this time you had to be very sure about not only your convictions but also those of the other person. I could feel the attraction just fizzing between both MCs like electrical static until Rufus takes that first, bold and important step, the first physical touch which leaves no doubt as to his inclinations tearing down the walls and letting the damn break. Once this step has been taken there’s no going back. Rufus is the more experienced in playing the homosexual subterfuge necessary to survive at these times where I felt Archi was rather naive of the situation and surroundings in his all consuming love for Rufus. The danger being that Archie could give the game away to some unsavoury person that would only want to harm them. But despite all obstacles, and there were some huge ones to overcome, their love triumphs in the end which left me with a big soppy sigh at the end with all the warm fuzzies.
I feel that what also made this book for me were the myriad cast of secondary characters. All vibrant and with their own stories to tell but by the end of the book they all form a wonderful whole. Each finding their own HEA too which left me feeling that I had read a story where all characters come full circle in their individual journeys. I love that feeling of completeness when not only the MCs get their HEA but also the supporting cast too.
Sorry Sally, waxing lyrical again but you know me. Once I get enthused by a book it’s difficult to stop me, let alone get a word in edgeways. So I’ll now put a sock in my mouth and give you the floor again - lol!
Sally: Never apologise for enthusiasm and whole-hearted love. In this day and age we need all of that we can get.
So I’m going to take a moment to enthuse over Harper’s prose, which I’ve already mentioned. Love absolutely oooooozes from this book - not just eros but agape too, but the thing that struck me right in the heart is the love for the land displayed in the gorgeous but succinct descriptions of the countryside. During both World Wars, rural Britain was almost fetishised as being something worth dying for. Gentle sunlit scenes were illustrated and distributed as posters, showing the beauties of the English countryside, and there are passages in Seven Summer Nights that reminded me very much of these posters - and also of Tolkien’s descriptions of the Shire. The place where the action of the story takes place is a character in its own right. It is deep and beautiful and mysterious with open, loving arms. There were several passages where I was shocked to find my breath short and my eyes wet, startled by recollections of my own cliché country childhood - though it must be said that this was much much better.
Mark: Oh yes, please do enthuse over Harper’s prose. Harper really does create the most vivid images with her words, creating a wonderfully nostalgic Britain that we all have in our minds, I almost found myself singing the hymn Jerusalem, “In England’s green and pleasant land…….tralalal” - lol! But despite all this nostalgic beauty Harper manages to create a sinister undercurrent broaching on the subject of the attitudes and how people were treated who had mental illnesses at this time. Something that can be all too easily disguised with this nostalgia or yearning for The Good Old Days. Some things are a lot better today and not everything was good in the past by any stretch of the imagination
Poor Drusila at the beginning, I just loved how Archie just accepted her as a tortured soul needing to be cared for. Despite all the trouble she caused for him it was so natural for him to see her as a woman who just needs love and care. If it was left up to Windborn, the village doctor, he would have had here banged up in an asylum without a second thought. What he does to Rufus is also despicable. To think that homosexuality would have been treated in very much the same way, the horrors of lobotomy being the cure all method at that time. I just shudder to think about what some people must have experienced in this day and age. Despite the panic I had when I thought about how Archie had to rescue Rufus from the clutches of an extremely evil and barbaric institution by our standards today, I couldn’t help breaking out in a sweat to think that Archie has to succeed otherwise my world would have fallen apart. I haven’t read a Harper Fox book yet that hasn’t had me holding my breath for one particular character at least.
That’s what I like most about historical stories when the author gets it right. It makes me appreciate how much we have today and how much we can be thankful for every day. But we should never be complacent and the fight for equality is by far not over yet. I would love to know what you think about this aspect?
Sally: It certainly isn’t underplayed - as it shouldn’t be! The dangers today can be considerable but in the UK at least there are some protections, there are laws against hate crimes, there are organisations that can help and I, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, would be absolutely prepared to man the barricades to stop any kind of return to those times of fear and oppression. But in the 1940s the justifiable fear of being found out was augmented by the knowledge that many of the ‘therapies’ used to ‘re-educate’ people were psychologically damaging at best and at worst were actually life-threatening. I’m not sure if younger readers realise how common it was for men to be offered a choice between prison and a ‘therapy’ that could literally kill them. For that matter I remember having a conversation with a young American lass in her twenties who told me she thought that the peril was exaggerated in a story we had both read because, she said, “unlike in the US, homosexuality has never been illegal in Britain.” I don’t know whether that’s a commonly held view but I think we can assure readers that Archie and Rufus’s misgivings and caution in this book are perfectly justified
And that is great, from a narrative point of view, because it pushes the tension of an already tense story off the scale!
Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again!
Mark: I know, it is definitely worth a second read for sure. And the tension between Rufus and Archie is totally justifiable given the time period, so a slow build up, tentative gestures, carefully sounding out the other is all part of the gay romance dance for any story set in less enlightened times.
Once again Harper has delivered a super book, full of depth in plot and character, a pure joy to read. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I’m going to end with one quote from the book that I felt summed up so many things for me, from the book and life in general……….
"If we have to wait until we have peace in our hearts before we start working for it in the world, we’ll never get anywhere. We just have to start with what we have."
Sally: Sometimes you get some news that’s downheartening - tax bills, an odd sound from the car engine, a suspicious puddle by the washing machine, an even more suspicious one by the cat - and sometimes you get something much, much better, like word of a new release from Harper Fox!
And what a release. Seven Summer Nights is a historical romance, but so much more! There’s the immediate post war period of the late 1940s where traumatised young people tried to fit back into civilian life, there’s the bleak prospects faced by those who suffered from PTSD, which had not yet been recognised as a legitimate concern, there’s the boom in archaeology, and above all there is love, all displayed for our delectation in Harper’s beautiful prose.
Mark: Yes Sally, beautiful prose is exactly it. Harper is a real wordsmith and just like an artist Harper can paint the most breath-taking scenes and awaken emotions in me with her words which make reading a pure joy. This is a broad sweeping historical romance but the period is not so “historical” that I feel almost anyone can still connect with it even if one doesn’t normally read historical novels. It's still modern enough to be able to connect with the time and setting very easily.
The intricacy of the plot is incredible. We have the mystical but not overdone, ethereal in its presence, you know there is something bubbling under the surface until everything comes to light at the end. An ancient mystery waiting to be solved, we have the historical aspect with the time period, archaeology and the abhorrent attitudes in this time towards homosexuality, mental illness, PTSD, faith in religion or lack of and small minded rural life. A lot of issues in one book. All this wrapped up in a wonderful, delicious plot that had me breaking my bedtime curfew just to read further. Anyway, time for me to stop waxing lyrical otherwise you’ll never get a chance. So changing the subject, I would love to know what you think about our MCs?
Sally: I think I have to start with Rufus, since it’s he who we meet first. Also I have a very big soft spot for archaeologists. He seems such a nice lad - delighted to be back in harness after a very stressful war, and tolerating the leadership of a man he disagrees with on almost every professional point, and many cultural and humanitarian ones as well. Rufus has insight - blurred a little with disuse - and a huge but benign curiosity. He wants to record and understand, rather than plunder. He’s also horribly lonely on a private and personal level. He really needs to find the right kind of man - and that’s where Archie comes in. Oh Archie - one of those types who used to be called muscular Christians, someone who is completely trustworthy in every situation [apart from a tendency to gloss over his passion for motorbikes - a very unsuitable mode of transport for a priest]. He served in the war too, and that gives him a valuable insight into Rufus’s condition. I honestly couldn’t say which of them I enjoyed most, Mark. How about you?
Mark: I loved the two MCs, both damaged in their very own ways. Rufus suffering from PTSD and loss of memory which leads him sometimes to violent outbursts where he can’t remember anything when he comes around. But regaining his memory will lead to the key of a mystery that will shed the shackles of his past and allow him to move forward. This leads him into a life threatening situation towards the end of the book where his only hope will be Archie, his love and resolve not give up on their relationship.
Then we have Archie, the village vicar, also a war veteran who served as a pastor in the military during the war. He is also fighting his own demons. A clergyman who has lost his faith but is still the milk of kindness to everyone needing shelter. Goes to show that a dog collar doesn’t make a person good by default. His vicarage is like a halfway house to so many troubled souls but people who all have their own story to tell. True to the time the romance is a slow-build as at this time you had to be very sure about not only your convictions but also those of the other person. I could feel the attraction just fizzing between both MCs like electrical static until Rufus takes that first, bold and important step, the first physical touch which leaves no doubt as to his inclinations tearing down the walls and letting the damn break. Once this step has been taken there’s no going back. Rufus is the more experienced in playing the homosexual subterfuge necessary to survive at these times where I felt Archi was rather naive of the situation and surroundings in his all consuming love for Rufus. The danger being that Archie could give the game away to some unsavoury person that would only want to harm them. But despite all obstacles, and there were some huge ones to overcome, their love triumphs in the end which left me with a big soppy sigh at the end with all the warm fuzzies.
I feel that what also made this book for me were the myriad cast of secondary characters. All vibrant and with their own stories to tell but by the end of the book they all form a wonderful whole. Each finding their own HEA too which left me feeling that I had read a story where all characters come full circle in their individual journeys. I love that feeling of completeness when not only the MCs get their HEA but also the supporting cast too.
Sorry Sally, waxing lyrical again but you know me. Once I get enthused by a book it’s difficult to stop me, let alone get a word in edgeways. So I’ll now put a sock in my mouth and give you the floor again - lol!
Sally: Never apologise for enthusiasm and whole-hearted love. In this day and age we need all of that we can get.
So I’m going to take a moment to enthuse over Harper’s prose, which I’ve already mentioned. Love absolutely oooooozes from this book - not just eros but agape too, but the thing that struck me right in the heart is the love for the land displayed in the gorgeous but succinct descriptions of the countryside. During both World Wars, rural Britain was almost fetishised as being something worth dying for. Gentle sunlit scenes were illustrated and distributed as posters, showing the beauties of the English countryside, and there are passages in Seven Summer Nights that reminded me very much of these posters - and also of Tolkien’s descriptions of the Shire. The place where the action of the story takes place is a character in its own right. It is deep and beautiful and mysterious with open, loving arms. There were several passages where I was shocked to find my breath short and my eyes wet, startled by recollections of my own cliché country childhood - though it must be said that this was much much better.
Mark: Oh yes, please do enthuse over Harper’s prose. Harper really does create the most vivid images with her words, creating a wonderfully nostalgic Britain that we all have in our minds, I almost found myself singing the hymn Jerusalem, “In England’s green and pleasant land…….tralalal” - lol! But despite all this nostalgic beauty Harper manages to create a sinister undercurrent broaching on the subject of the attitudes and how people were treated who had mental illnesses at this time. Something that can be all too easily disguised with this nostalgia or yearning for The Good Old Days. Some things are a lot better today and not everything was good in the past by any stretch of the imagination
Poor Drusila at the beginning, I just loved how Archie just accepted her as a tortured soul needing to be cared for. Despite all the trouble she caused for him it was so natural for him to see her as a woman who just needs love and care. If it was left up to Windborn, the village doctor, he would have had here banged up in an asylum without a second thought. What he does to Rufus is also despicable. To think that homosexuality would have been treated in very much the same way, the horrors of lobotomy being the cure all method at that time. I just shudder to think about what some people must have experienced in this day and age. Despite the panic I had when I thought about how Archie had to rescue Rufus from the clutches of an extremely evil and barbaric institution by our standards today, I couldn’t help breaking out in a sweat to think that Archie has to succeed otherwise my world would have fallen apart. I haven’t read a Harper Fox book yet that hasn’t had me holding my breath for one particular character at least.
That’s what I like most about historical stories when the author gets it right. It makes me appreciate how much we have today and how much we can be thankful for every day. But we should never be complacent and the fight for equality is by far not over yet. I would love to know what you think about this aspect?
Sally: It certainly isn’t underplayed - as it shouldn’t be! The dangers today can be considerable but in the UK at least there are some protections, there are laws against hate crimes, there are organisations that can help and I, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, would be absolutely prepared to man the barricades to stop any kind of return to those times of fear and oppression. But in the 1940s the justifiable fear of being found out was augmented by the knowledge that many of the ‘therapies’ used to ‘re-educate’ people were psychologically damaging at best and at worst were actually life-threatening. I’m not sure if younger readers realise how common it was for men to be offered a choice between prison and a ‘therapy’ that could literally kill them. For that matter I remember having a conversation with a young American lass in her twenties who told me she thought that the peril was exaggerated in a story we had both read because, she said, “unlike in the US, homosexuality has never been illegal in Britain.” I don’t know whether that’s a commonly held view but I think we can assure readers that Archie and Rufus’s misgivings and caution in this book are perfectly justified
And that is great, from a narrative point of view, because it pushes the tension of an already tense story off the scale!
Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again!
Mark: I know, it is definitely worth a second read for sure. And the tension between Rufus and Archie is totally justifiable given the time period, so a slow build up, tentative gestures, carefully sounding out the other is all part of the gay romance dance for any story set in less enlightened times.
Once again Harper has delivered a super book, full of depth in plot and character, a pure joy to read. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I’m going to end with one quote from the book that I felt summed up so many things for me, from the book and life in general……….
"If we have to wait until we have peace in our hearts before we start working for it in the world, we’ll never get anywhere. We just have to start with what we have."
June 25, 2024
Review from 2018
I've given this an A for both narration and content at AudioGals.
Harper Fox’s Seven Summer Nights is a book that’s been recommended to me on several occasions, so when I saw it had been released in audio, I picked it up straight away as audio is my preferred method of ‘getting around to’ books I can’t find time to read in print. I admit to being a little wary given that narrator Chris Clog is not someone I’m familiar with, but it was obvious after the first few minutes of the listen that I was in very safe hands; he’s an excellent performer and I enjoyed every moment of this sixteen-plus-hours audiobook in terms of the story and the narration.
The story is a fabulous mix of romance and mystery with a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure that takes place around a year after the end of World War Two in a typically bucolic English village in Sussex. Well-known archaeologist Dr. Rufus Denby has been struggling to keep himself together in both body and mind since the end of the war, in which he’d served as a captain in the army and been decorated for his bravery. Haunted by terrible events he can no longer remember, Rufus is subject to sudden and uncontrollable outbursts of violence he can never recall afterwards; and he is at his first dig since the end of the war when something triggers an episode and he attacks one of his colleagues.
After a brief period in hospital, Rufus visits his boss at the Royal Museum, who very gently tells him that his employment has been terminated – and then suggests Rufus visits her cousin, the vicar of a small village in Sussex called Droyton Parva. Droyton’s late-medieval church is due for restoration, and the vicar would like any important archaeological features recorded before the work begins. Practically destitute, worn down, lonely and confused, Rufus makes his way there, but when, on arrival, the vicar is nowhere to be found, Rufus visits the church where he exhaustedly falls asleep in the choir loft – but not before recognising that the church does indeed hold a number of archaeologically significant artefacts and paintings.
The Reverend Archie Thorne spent the war as an army chaplain and now lives an energetic life among his parishioners – most of whom adore him – even though he lost his faith long ago. He’s warm, funny, open-hearted… and like Rufus, rather lonely; he keeps himself busy shepherding his flock, making sure the church isn’t falling apart, has a habit of taking in the local waifs and strays – and sneaking off every so often to work on his motorbike and have a quick smoke (which, owing to a lung condition he isn’t supposed to do!)
The moment Archie sets eyes on tired, troubled Rufus, he recognises a kindred spirit and longs to add him to his motley crew of vicarage inmates, but Rufus, who is immediately attracted to the handsome, wonderfully gregarious Archie, prefers to remain aloof and out of the way of temptation. A past relationship gone very bad has served to strongly bring home the inherent dangers facing a man of his sexual preferences, and Rufus was so badly burned that he has resigned himself to a life without companionship and affection.
But Archie is not quite so circumspect, and despite the dangers inherent in falling for another man finds himself overwhelmingly attracted to Rufus. He’s rather charmingly clueless about romance and relationships; when Rufus finally does make a move, Archie’s enthusiasm is sweet and eager – sometimes to the extent that he forgets the importance of the need for discretion and Rufus has to rein him in. Village life continues apace as a moving, passionate romance develops between these two lovely, lonely men, but there is so much more to this novel than a love story. Archie and Rufus spend time together uncovering the mysteries hidden within the church, which may point to its having been a pre-Christian, pagan site, and there’s a third narrative concerning Rufus’ war-time experiences and the memories he has blocked out, which drives the story in a very different direction. It’s clear that whatever happened to Rufus was intensely traumatic, and the appearance in Droyton of his widowed sister and her authoritarian, obnoxious father-in-law marks the start of an increasingly tense, heart-wrenching bit of storytelling which had me on the edge of my seat. If Archie and Rufus had any doubts about the nature and strength of their feelings, these events irrevocably cement the truth of their deep love for one another.
Chris Clog is a new-to-me narrator and unless he’s using a pseudonym, he has only five titles to his name at Audible, all but one of them also by Harper Fox; and on the strength of his performance here, I will definitely be listening to him again. His pacing is just right, his voice is nicely modulated and pleasant to listen to, and his characterisations are extremely good. He captures the essence of Archie perfectly, a nicely resonant baritone depicting a big man with a big heart while the marginally higher pitch he adopts for Rufus serves to differentiate well between them and also helps to paint a vivid picture of the slighter man in the mind of the listener. All the secondary characters are clearly delineated, from the gruffly unpleasant tones of the Brigadier to the haughty, upper-crust tones of Lady Birch and the gently accented speech of the locals. He voices the women well, too – they’re not pitched too high or too low and are easily identifiable as female. It’s a very strong performance all round and there’s no question that Mr. Clog more than does justice to this extraordinary novel.
In Seven Summer Nights, Harper Fox has created an unusual and memorable story featuring two thoroughly likeable protagonists and a well-developed cast of secondary characters. The mystery surrounding the church draws inspiration from English folklore and is both magical and slightly creepy at the same time, and the romance at its heart is simply beautiful.
I've given this an A for both narration and content at AudioGals.
Harper Fox’s Seven Summer Nights is a book that’s been recommended to me on several occasions, so when I saw it had been released in audio, I picked it up straight away as audio is my preferred method of ‘getting around to’ books I can’t find time to read in print. I admit to being a little wary given that narrator Chris Clog is not someone I’m familiar with, but it was obvious after the first few minutes of the listen that I was in very safe hands; he’s an excellent performer and I enjoyed every moment of this sixteen-plus-hours audiobook in terms of the story and the narration.
The story is a fabulous mix of romance and mystery with a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure that takes place around a year after the end of World War Two in a typically bucolic English village in Sussex. Well-known archaeologist Dr. Rufus Denby has been struggling to keep himself together in both body and mind since the end of the war, in which he’d served as a captain in the army and been decorated for his bravery. Haunted by terrible events he can no longer remember, Rufus is subject to sudden and uncontrollable outbursts of violence he can never recall afterwards; and he is at his first dig since the end of the war when something triggers an episode and he attacks one of his colleagues.
After a brief period in hospital, Rufus visits his boss at the Royal Museum, who very gently tells him that his employment has been terminated – and then suggests Rufus visits her cousin, the vicar of a small village in Sussex called Droyton Parva. Droyton’s late-medieval church is due for restoration, and the vicar would like any important archaeological features recorded before the work begins. Practically destitute, worn down, lonely and confused, Rufus makes his way there, but when, on arrival, the vicar is nowhere to be found, Rufus visits the church where he exhaustedly falls asleep in the choir loft – but not before recognising that the church does indeed hold a number of archaeologically significant artefacts and paintings.
The Reverend Archie Thorne spent the war as an army chaplain and now lives an energetic life among his parishioners – most of whom adore him – even though he lost his faith long ago. He’s warm, funny, open-hearted… and like Rufus, rather lonely; he keeps himself busy shepherding his flock, making sure the church isn’t falling apart, has a habit of taking in the local waifs and strays – and sneaking off every so often to work on his motorbike and have a quick smoke (which, owing to a lung condition he isn’t supposed to do!)
The moment Archie sets eyes on tired, troubled Rufus, he recognises a kindred spirit and longs to add him to his motley crew of vicarage inmates, but Rufus, who is immediately attracted to the handsome, wonderfully gregarious Archie, prefers to remain aloof and out of the way of temptation. A past relationship gone very bad has served to strongly bring home the inherent dangers facing a man of his sexual preferences, and Rufus was so badly burned that he has resigned himself to a life without companionship and affection.
But Archie is not quite so circumspect, and despite the dangers inherent in falling for another man finds himself overwhelmingly attracted to Rufus. He’s rather charmingly clueless about romance and relationships; when Rufus finally does make a move, Archie’s enthusiasm is sweet and eager – sometimes to the extent that he forgets the importance of the need for discretion and Rufus has to rein him in. Village life continues apace as a moving, passionate romance develops between these two lovely, lonely men, but there is so much more to this novel than a love story. Archie and Rufus spend time together uncovering the mysteries hidden within the church, which may point to its having been a pre-Christian, pagan site, and there’s a third narrative concerning Rufus’ war-time experiences and the memories he has blocked out, which drives the story in a very different direction. It’s clear that whatever happened to Rufus was intensely traumatic, and the appearance in Droyton of his widowed sister and her authoritarian, obnoxious father-in-law marks the start of an increasingly tense, heart-wrenching bit of storytelling which had me on the edge of my seat. If Archie and Rufus had any doubts about the nature and strength of their feelings, these events irrevocably cement the truth of their deep love for one another.
Chris Clog is a new-to-me narrator and unless he’s using a pseudonym, he has only five titles to his name at Audible, all but one of them also by Harper Fox; and on the strength of his performance here, I will definitely be listening to him again. His pacing is just right, his voice is nicely modulated and pleasant to listen to, and his characterisations are extremely good. He captures the essence of Archie perfectly, a nicely resonant baritone depicting a big man with a big heart while the marginally higher pitch he adopts for Rufus serves to differentiate well between them and also helps to paint a vivid picture of the slighter man in the mind of the listener. All the secondary characters are clearly delineated, from the gruffly unpleasant tones of the Brigadier to the haughty, upper-crust tones of Lady Birch and the gently accented speech of the locals. He voices the women well, too – they’re not pitched too high or too low and are easily identifiable as female. It’s a very strong performance all round and there’s no question that Mr. Clog more than does justice to this extraordinary novel.
In Seven Summer Nights, Harper Fox has created an unusual and memorable story featuring two thoroughly likeable protagonists and a well-developed cast of secondary characters. The mystery surrounding the church draws inspiration from English folklore and is both magical and slightly creepy at the same time, and the romance at its heart is simply beautiful.
April 16, 2019
Every once in a while, I get a mad compulsion to read a book. I hear of something, and it won't give me peace until I go and read it - and without a fail, those books prove to be my favourites. So it was with The Name of the Wind all those years ago, or The Curse of Chalion, or more recently The Gray House. And so it is here. Outside of my usual wheelhouse or no, I had to have it and yet again my instinct has proven correct. I wanted to yell about it from the rooftops before I was halfway through. I finished it in less than a day. It satisfied the craving for more Witchmark left beyond perfectly.
So what is it about? It's 1946. Rufus Denby, a famous archeologist, has returned from his last dig in disgrace after he attacked a colleague while suffering from a flashback. He is offered one last assignment in the village of Droyton Parva that he accepts out of desperation, helping with the restoration of a mysterious church...and there he meets the Reverend Archie Thorne, the eccentric, motorcycle-riding, atheist vicar. Oh and before I forget: there's a really adorable dog as well.
The characters are definitely the highlight of the book. After the return from war, Rufus is shellshocked, ridden with guilt, amnesiac and suffering from violent flashbacks. Archie is quite different - a warm, kind-hearted person who collects waifs and strays and apparently destitute archeologists. The romance that slowly develops between them is sweet and adorable and I was totally there for it. Dealing with PTSD and homophobia of the era, it gets quite dark and heartbreaking at places, especially near the end. However, it being a romance, I knew it was going to end well, which got me through some of the more intense moments.
And have I mentioned how much I love healing/recovery stories and broken protagonists trying to find their place in the world? Because it hits that spot perfectly.
The worldbuilding, no complaints there either. The prose is rich and atmospheric, and really brings the setting to life. It reads astonishingly fast. There's also a whole variety of interesting side characters, far too many to list. There's LGBTQ+ representation beyond just Rufus and Archie, all trying to make their way and find happiness in an imperfect world.
The flaws I found were few and mostly of a personal nature. I found that while I love the focus on relationships that romance has, I really dislike explicit sex scenes of any kind. And there were a few long ones. But I know I am the odd one out in that, and they really didn't diminish my overall enjoyment. Just not my thing. The ending also ties up too neatly in my opinion for every single of the side characters (I don't mind it for the main couple) to the point it comes off as forced for some of them, the supernatural element too much of a deus ex machina.
Regardless, I would still put it among my favourites and highly recommend it.
Enjoyment: 5/5
Execution: 4.5/5
Recommended to: fans of character-focused stories or m/m romance, prose lovers, those who enjoyed Witchmark and Vintner's Luck, anyone who wants an uplifting story that isn't afraid to tackle some heavy themes
Not recommended to: those who dislike explicit sex scenes or deus ex machina, those who want a fast-paced, plot-oriented book
More reviews on my blog, To Other Worlds.
“Of course I could have turned them out into the fields, to laugh and cry like that with no roof to shield them. Maybe in another world, that would be best, but...” Archie got up stiffly, muscles aching from holding Rufus against the trunk of the apple tree the night before. “Not in this one. In this world, love needs shelter. And as long as the rectory’s standing, I’m going to provide it.”If you're looking for extremely well-written, atmospheric m/m romance with a slight fantasy twist this is very likely a book for you.
So what is it about? It's 1946. Rufus Denby, a famous archeologist, has returned from his last dig in disgrace after he attacked a colleague while suffering from a flashback. He is offered one last assignment in the village of Droyton Parva that he accepts out of desperation, helping with the restoration of a mysterious church...and there he meets the Reverend Archie Thorne, the eccentric, motorcycle-riding, atheist vicar. Oh and before I forget: there's a really adorable dog as well.
The characters are definitely the highlight of the book. After the return from war, Rufus is shellshocked, ridden with guilt, amnesiac and suffering from violent flashbacks. Archie is quite different - a warm, kind-hearted person who collects waifs and strays and apparently destitute archeologists. The romance that slowly develops between them is sweet and adorable and I was totally there for it. Dealing with PTSD and homophobia of the era, it gets quite dark and heartbreaking at places, especially near the end. However, it being a romance, I knew it was going to end well, which got me through some of the more intense moments.
And have I mentioned how much I love healing/recovery stories and broken protagonists trying to find their place in the world? Because it hits that spot perfectly.
The worldbuilding, no complaints there either. The prose is rich and atmospheric, and really brings the setting to life. It reads astonishingly fast. There's also a whole variety of interesting side characters, far too many to list. There's LGBTQ+ representation beyond just Rufus and Archie, all trying to make their way and find happiness in an imperfect world.
The flaws I found were few and mostly of a personal nature. I found that while I love the focus on relationships that romance has, I really dislike explicit sex scenes of any kind. And there were a few long ones. But I know I am the odd one out in that, and they really didn't diminish my overall enjoyment. Just not my thing. The ending also ties up too neatly in my opinion for every single of the side characters (I don't mind it for the main couple) to the point it comes off as forced for some of them, the supernatural element too much of a deus ex machina.
Regardless, I would still put it among my favourites and highly recommend it.
Enjoyment: 5/5
Execution: 4.5/5
Recommended to: fans of character-focused stories or m/m romance, prose lovers, those who enjoyed Witchmark and Vintner's Luck, anyone who wants an uplifting story that isn't afraid to tackle some heavy themes
Not recommended to: those who dislike explicit sex scenes or deus ex machina, those who want a fast-paced, plot-oriented book
More reviews on my blog, To Other Worlds.
January 9, 2022
This is a hard one to rate, I both really liked it and was disappointed it lost the plot, or more accurately got lost within the plots.
The characters are very likeable, but I found at times I had to pause and think of their names; not because they're similar but because there was too much going on. The cast isn't really that big but they take over. While I loved the romance I wanted more focus on it, a simpler setting. A healed Rufus is far more assertive and left me wondering if I knew the characters. Alfie is likeable but so passive through most of his life. I'm left wishing there was more of them, less of all the plots.
The story deals with the war worn. The poor, the battle scarred and lost.
The nightmare of war, shellshock
Abuse and exploitation
Religon versus Paganism, heavy mystism with goddesses overwhelms all
Historical sites, with a little mystery and archaeology
Feminism; landgirls, societal pressure, priestesses
Village life and expectations
Gay perception, how all manners of deviance is assumed and secrecy a must.
Until 60% I really enjoyed the tangle, but then the story got too heavy. The was more empathise on keeping their burgeoning romance secret than on exploring the feelings between them. Even the first intimacy was secondary to sudden archeological insight! The mystism then took centre stage to the point that for awhile the main characters were forgotten.
It seemed very strange that the main characters were mere onlookers rather than integral to the main plot.
There's a side plot around Rufus, a sad but daft little adventure where our main characters are actually taking an active role. But while this should have been pivotal, it read like was a side plot.
There's the big showdown reveal scene, with the mains as onlookers, then more things happen and while it was foreshadowed where the story would end it also felt another step away from everything.
The writing is great, lyrically weaving the scene and sense of place. The characters interesting. The story draws you in and conveys a lot about the chosen subjects. But any one of the plots would have been adequate, all combined threw the balance off as though two books were combined. A little magic is great, but this was overwhelming. Magic is far reaching and cures everything, is the answer to every plight. In some circumstances that's great, in others less satisfying.
While this all sounds negative I enjoyed it, I loved the first half though found the second half tended to dragged out. I'm happy to see there's a short sequel and hope for a simple reuinon with the characters.
The characters are very likeable, but I found at times I had to pause and think of their names; not because they're similar but because there was too much going on. The cast isn't really that big but they take over. While I loved the romance I wanted more focus on it, a simpler setting. A healed Rufus is far more assertive and left me wondering if I knew the characters. Alfie is likeable but so passive through most of his life. I'm left wishing there was more of them, less of all the plots.
The story deals with the war worn. The poor, the battle scarred and lost.
The nightmare of war, shellshock
Abuse and exploitation
Religon versus Paganism, heavy mystism with goddesses overwhelms all
Historical sites, with a little mystery and archaeology
Feminism; landgirls, societal pressure, priestesses
Village life and expectations
Gay perception, how all manners of deviance is assumed and secrecy a must.
Until 60% I really enjoyed the tangle, but then the story got too heavy. The was more empathise on keeping their burgeoning romance secret than on exploring the feelings between them. Even the first intimacy was secondary to sudden archeological insight! The mystism then took centre stage to the point that for awhile the main characters were forgotten.
It seemed very strange that the main characters were mere onlookers rather than integral to the main plot.
There's a side plot around Rufus, a sad but daft little adventure where our main characters are actually taking an active role. But while this should have been pivotal, it read like was a side plot.
There's the big showdown reveal scene, with the mains as onlookers, then more things happen and while it was foreshadowed where the story would end it also felt another step away from everything.
The writing is great, lyrically weaving the scene and sense of place. The characters interesting. The story draws you in and conveys a lot about the chosen subjects. But any one of the plots would have been adequate, all combined threw the balance off as though two books were combined. A little magic is great, but this was overwhelming. Magic is far reaching and cures everything, is the answer to every plight. In some circumstances that's great, in others less satisfying.
While this all sounds negative I enjoyed it, I loved the first half though found the second half tended to dragged out. I'm happy to see there's a short sequel and hope for a simple reuinon with the characters.
March 20, 2017
BR with my buddies in crime : the famous Karen and Josy
, yeah !!
It was absolutely not what I expected. Sometimes, it’s a good thing, sometimes, it’s not. And this time, it went the 2nd way around.
This book really confused me. What genre is it ? Historical, fantasy, MM romance ? What is the set up ? a fantasy world ? Post-WWII in England ? What is it about ? Magic ? Mythology ? Archaeology ? And then, so many issues : post-war trauma, bigotry, the place of women in society, the horror of psychiatric treatments, and I could go on because there are much more.
That’s my point : throughout the read, I kept trying to figure out the story until I gave up. It was like accepting running along a horse instead of ridding a horse.
Yes, confusing…
That said, I eat it up like a mad for the wonderful writing style of this author, for the archaeological references of the labyrinths (I’m fascinated by archaeology, there is that), for the characters (not only the MCs, Rufus – this one was so wonderful and heartbreaking - and Thorne, but also all the secondary characters, there were aplenty) and for the epic “rescue” scene of Rufus by Thorne, the shiningknight faithless vicar on his Norton bike.
Never the saying “it’s me, not the book” has even been truer.
It was absolutely not what I expected. Sometimes, it’s a good thing, sometimes, it’s not. And this time, it went the 2nd way around.
This book really confused me. What genre is it ? Historical, fantasy, MM romance ? What is the set up ? a fantasy world ? Post-WWII in England ? What is it about ? Magic ? Mythology ? Archaeology ? And then, so many issues : post-war trauma, bigotry, the place of women in society, the horror of psychiatric treatments, and I could go on because there are much more.
That’s my point : throughout the read, I kept trying to figure out the story until I gave up. It was like accepting running along a horse instead of ridding a horse.
Yes, confusing…
That said, I eat it up like a mad for the wonderful writing style of this author, for the archaeological references of the labyrinths (I’m fascinated by archaeology, there is that), for the characters (not only the MCs, Rufus – this one was so wonderful and heartbreaking - and Thorne, but also all the secondary characters, there were aplenty) and for the epic “rescue” scene of Rufus by Thorne, the shining
Never the saying “it’s me, not the book” has even been truer.
Read
December 17, 2022“All that magic - that power to heal and change - might just be part of us?”
CW: Homophobia, war violence, sexual assault, PTSD, alcoholism
So What’s It About?
It’s 1946, and the dust of World War Two has just begun to settle. When famous archaeologist Rufus Denby returns to London, his life and reputation are as devastated as the city around him.
He’s used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can’t turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It’s a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living. With nothing but his satchel and a mongrel dog he’s rescued from a bomb site, he sets out to investigate an ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva.
It’s an ordinary task, but Droyton is in the hands of a most extraordinary vicar. The Reverend Archie Thorne has tasted action too, as a motorcycle-riding army chaplain, and is struggling to readjust to the little world around him. He’s a lonely man, and Rufus’s arrival soon sparks off in him a lifetime of repressed desires.
Rufus is a combat case, amnesiac and shellshocked. As he and Archie begin to unfold the archaeological mystery of Droyton, their growing friendship makes Rufus believe he might one day recapture his lost memories of the war, and find his way back from the edge of insanity to love.
It’s summer on the South Downs, the air full of sunshine and enchantment. And Rufus and Archie’s seven summer nights have just begun…
What I Thought
When I look back at this book, I’m quite surprised by just how much there is to talk about, how much Fox managed to fit into what could have been a sweet, simple romance and still have been very effective.
The romance is at the heart of the book, and it is a very good romance. Rufus and Archie are both sympathetic characters and the way they fall in love is written in a lovely way. Unconventional vicar Archie welcomes a world-weary Rufus into his cozy, kind home when Rufus is nearly to the point of no longer believing in kindness, enveloping him into safety and a very charming found family. Archie goes on a crazy rescue mission when Rufus admits himself to a mental hospital, sacrificing himself for another family’s misplaced sense of honor, and this part of the book is pretty exciting as well as a great testament to the love that's developed between the characters.
There’s also a meaningful exploration of period homophobia, especially internalized homophobia, and the elements of shame and fear are explored well, I think. Somehow we’re still struggling with associations between queerness and “degeneracy” and pedophilia, and it’s painful to see the cruelty and judgment that the characters both fear and face in reality. On this note, though, the conclusion of the romance is a very happy one where they are able to be together surrounded by their loved ones. The only thing I don't like about the romance is the author’s bizarre habit of having them pause in the middle of intimate scenes to talk about archeology and make archeological plot-relevant discoveries…weird, yes, but if that’s my biggest problem, I think that’s a good sign overall.
In addition to exploring period homophobia, the book also addresses the stigma against veterans with shellshock after World War II. Before the diagnosis of PTSD, women with trauma most often had interpersonal trauma and would be diagnosed with hysteria, while men with trauma most often had combat trauma and would be diagnosed with shellshock (for a great documentation of this entire aspect of psychological history, I can’t recommend Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror enough). The diagnosis of shellshock was met with a great deal of stigma and contempt, an attitude that is voiced in this book by the brigadier, who dismisses Rufus’s suffering and amnesia as stemming from a lack of manliness and courage. As previously mentioned, Archie saves Rufus from undergoing electroshock therapy in order to try to help the brigadier restore his dead son’s “honor” from how his reputation is also currently being disparaged for his lack of honor and manliness during the war. I think Rufus’s trauma is written and explored well except for the fact that he happily states that he is entirely better at the end of the book - miraculous recoveries from complex mental health issues always frustrate me.
One interesting thing that differentiates this from some of the other m/m romances I’ve read is that there are a number of diverse female characters who are important to the story, and issues of sexism are relevant as well as issues of homophobia. We see everything from Rosemary’s precarious position after being widowed and losing her baby to Caroline talking about the invisibility of lesbians at the time to Alice Winborn struggling with grief and alcoholism and the expectation of getting married again. The book also touches on the plight of witches and the way that women’s societal roles began to change in England after World War II.
I have a couple of caveats to my appreciation for this part of the story. The magical realism plot is about an ancient, mystical Goddess cult whose female members are persecuted as witches, and that absolutely reeks of Margaret Murray. Her theory about the witch hunts actually being about destroying an ancient female-led fertility cult has been thoroughly discredited as absolute nonsense and yet it somehow persists to this day like some kind of history cockroach. Just as there is in Murray's witch-cult theory, there is an underlying theme of women’s instinctive, emotional knowledge vs men’s rationality and logic in this book. I can’t for the live of me find the quote in my Kindle copy now, but I recall a female character saying something almost along the lines of “men have logic and reason, and women have the underground.” I’m always annoyed by this particular line of cultural feminist thinking, and I remembered an Ursula Le Guin quote from an essay called "What Women Know" that explains my feelings quite well:
“But I didn’t like and still don’t like making a cult of women’s knowledge, preening ourselves on knowing things men don’t know, women’s deep irrational wisdom, women’s instinctive knowledge of Nature, and so on All that all too often merely reinforces the masculinist idea of women as primitive and inferior - women’s knowledge as elementary, primitive, always down below at the dark roots, while men get to cultivate and on the flowers and crops that come up into the light. But why should women keep talking baby walk while men get to grow up? Why should women feel blindly while men get to think?”
I should probably quit while I’m ahead before I start talking about Tehanu. Just from how long this review got, it should be clear that there’s quite a bit going on in this book beyond its very strong central romance plot. While not all of its elements worked for me, I would say that it is definitely worth checking out to see how everything works for you. It looks like Harper Fox has quite a substantial body of work, and I will definitely be returning to her books when I’m looking for another very gentle, very gay, and very British period romance.
CW: Homophobia, war violence, sexual assault, PTSD, alcoholism
So What’s It About?
It’s 1946, and the dust of World War Two has just begun to settle. When famous archaeologist Rufus Denby returns to London, his life and reputation are as devastated as the city around him.
He’s used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can’t turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It’s a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living. With nothing but his satchel and a mongrel dog he’s rescued from a bomb site, he sets out to investigate an ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva.
It’s an ordinary task, but Droyton is in the hands of a most extraordinary vicar. The Reverend Archie Thorne has tasted action too, as a motorcycle-riding army chaplain, and is struggling to readjust to the little world around him. He’s a lonely man, and Rufus’s arrival soon sparks off in him a lifetime of repressed desires.
Rufus is a combat case, amnesiac and shellshocked. As he and Archie begin to unfold the archaeological mystery of Droyton, their growing friendship makes Rufus believe he might one day recapture his lost memories of the war, and find his way back from the edge of insanity to love.
It’s summer on the South Downs, the air full of sunshine and enchantment. And Rufus and Archie’s seven summer nights have just begun…
What I Thought
When I look back at this book, I’m quite surprised by just how much there is to talk about, how much Fox managed to fit into what could have been a sweet, simple romance and still have been very effective.
The romance is at the heart of the book, and it is a very good romance. Rufus and Archie are both sympathetic characters and the way they fall in love is written in a lovely way. Unconventional vicar Archie welcomes a world-weary Rufus into his cozy, kind home when Rufus is nearly to the point of no longer believing in kindness, enveloping him into safety and a very charming found family. Archie goes on a crazy rescue mission when Rufus admits himself to a mental hospital, sacrificing himself for another family’s misplaced sense of honor, and this part of the book is pretty exciting as well as a great testament to the love that's developed between the characters.
There’s also a meaningful exploration of period homophobia, especially internalized homophobia, and the elements of shame and fear are explored well, I think. Somehow we’re still struggling with associations between queerness and “degeneracy” and pedophilia, and it’s painful to see the cruelty and judgment that the characters both fear and face in reality. On this note, though, the conclusion of the romance is a very happy one where they are able to be together surrounded by their loved ones. The only thing I don't like about the romance is the author’s bizarre habit of having them pause in the middle of intimate scenes to talk about archeology and make archeological plot-relevant discoveries…weird, yes, but if that’s my biggest problem, I think that’s a good sign overall.
In addition to exploring period homophobia, the book also addresses the stigma against veterans with shellshock after World War II. Before the diagnosis of PTSD, women with trauma most often had interpersonal trauma and would be diagnosed with hysteria, while men with trauma most often had combat trauma and would be diagnosed with shellshock (for a great documentation of this entire aspect of psychological history, I can’t recommend Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror enough). The diagnosis of shellshock was met with a great deal of stigma and contempt, an attitude that is voiced in this book by the brigadier, who dismisses Rufus’s suffering and amnesia as stemming from a lack of manliness and courage. As previously mentioned, Archie saves Rufus from undergoing electroshock therapy in order to try to help the brigadier restore his dead son’s “honor” from how his reputation is also currently being disparaged for his lack of honor and manliness during the war. I think Rufus’s trauma is written and explored well except for the fact that he happily states that he is entirely better at the end of the book - miraculous recoveries from complex mental health issues always frustrate me.
One interesting thing that differentiates this from some of the other m/m romances I’ve read is that there are a number of diverse female characters who are important to the story, and issues of sexism are relevant as well as issues of homophobia. We see everything from Rosemary’s precarious position after being widowed and losing her baby to Caroline talking about the invisibility of lesbians at the time to Alice Winborn struggling with grief and alcoholism and the expectation of getting married again. The book also touches on the plight of witches and the way that women’s societal roles began to change in England after World War II.
I have a couple of caveats to my appreciation for this part of the story. The magical realism plot is about an ancient, mystical Goddess cult whose female members are persecuted as witches, and that absolutely reeks of Margaret Murray. Her theory about the witch hunts actually being about destroying an ancient female-led fertility cult has been thoroughly discredited as absolute nonsense and yet it somehow persists to this day like some kind of history cockroach. Just as there is in Murray's witch-cult theory, there is an underlying theme of women’s instinctive, emotional knowledge vs men’s rationality and logic in this book. I can’t for the live of me find the quote in my Kindle copy now, but I recall a female character saying something almost along the lines of “men have logic and reason, and women have the underground.” I’m always annoyed by this particular line of cultural feminist thinking, and I remembered an Ursula Le Guin quote from an essay called "What Women Know" that explains my feelings quite well:
“But I didn’t like and still don’t like making a cult of women’s knowledge, preening ourselves on knowing things men don’t know, women’s deep irrational wisdom, women’s instinctive knowledge of Nature, and so on All that all too often merely reinforces the masculinist idea of women as primitive and inferior - women’s knowledge as elementary, primitive, always down below at the dark roots, while men get to cultivate and on the flowers and crops that come up into the light. But why should women keep talking baby walk while men get to grow up? Why should women feel blindly while men get to think?”
I should probably quit while I’m ahead before I start talking about Tehanu. Just from how long this review got, it should be clear that there’s quite a bit going on in this book beyond its very strong central romance plot. While not all of its elements worked for me, I would say that it is definitely worth checking out to see how everything works for you. It looks like Harper Fox has quite a substantial body of work, and I will definitely be returning to her books when I’m looking for another very gentle, very gay, and very British period romance.
April 8, 2021
The books I've read by Harper Fox have all had an amazing atmosphere, and Seven Summer Nights is no exception. Rufus and Archie's post world war II world is tangible and fully realised.
Rufus, an archaeologist, whose traumatic experiences at war left him with wounds both physical and mental. Archie is a vicar for the village of Droyton Parva, who doesn't believe in religion. Their relationship was so engaging to read. Rufus is content with a life of secrecy that he believes his sexuality requires of him. Archie after losing a lover in his teens has all but stayed in the closet.
Watching their friendship grow into love was so rewarding. It was interesting to read about the constrains their world put on them and how together they broke free of them in their way.
The village of Droyton is full of distinct side characters, my favourites being our characters found family. I love that trope!
The audiobook is narrated by Chris Clog, who did a great job giving these characters their voice.
Rufus, an archaeologist, whose traumatic experiences at war left him with wounds both physical and mental. Archie is a vicar for the village of Droyton Parva, who doesn't believe in religion. Their relationship was so engaging to read. Rufus is content with a life of secrecy that he believes his sexuality requires of him. Archie after losing a lover in his teens has all but stayed in the closet.
Watching their friendship grow into love was so rewarding. It was interesting to read about the constrains their world put on them and how together they broke free of them in their way.
The village of Droyton is full of distinct side characters, my favourites being our characters found family. I love that trope!
The audiobook is narrated by Chris Clog, who did a great job giving these characters their voice.
December 4, 2016
That was spectacular. An outstanding accomplishment of a novel.
April 22, 2025
Gentle war heroes.
Almost too lyrical, and
magic love cures all.
Like so many of Fox's books, this treads the line between fantasy and romance, between lyrical prose and schmaltz. Ultimately, it worked for me, and the gentleness was what I was in the mood for after reading a fairly harsh fantasy/romance/horror. And I'll never not like archaeologist, sad war boys, and Arthuriana. Both Rufus and Archie are sexy in both obvious and unexpected ways--worthy book boyfriends and perfect for each other, once they establish mutual gayness and safety.
The post-war setting made this just gritty enough to ground the fantasy elements and to give Rufus and Archie some real world stakes--and honestly, I had have been happier if this had stayed solely in that world. The fantasy elements were a little too easy, and too easily solved the trauma.
The setting was (as always with Fox) extremely detailed and lovely, the supporting characters well rounded and avoided cliche, and the research solid. Despite the length, I didn't find it overlong (though again, the paranormal elements could have been cut without sacrificing much, as far as I'm concerned). Fox builds worlds I want to stay in.
Almost too lyrical, and
magic love cures all.
Like so many of Fox's books, this treads the line between fantasy and romance, between lyrical prose and schmaltz. Ultimately, it worked for me, and the gentleness was what I was in the mood for after reading a fairly harsh fantasy/romance/horror. And I'll never not like archaeologist, sad war boys, and Arthuriana. Both Rufus and Archie are sexy in both obvious and unexpected ways--worthy book boyfriends and perfect for each other, once they establish mutual gayness and safety.
The post-war setting made this just gritty enough to ground the fantasy elements and to give Rufus and Archie some real world stakes--and honestly, I had have been happier if this had stayed solely in that world. The fantasy elements were a little too easy, and too easily solved the trauma.
The setting was (as always with Fox) extremely detailed and lovely, the supporting characters well rounded and avoided cliche, and the research solid. Despite the length, I didn't find it overlong (though again, the paranormal elements could have been cut without sacrificing much, as far as I'm concerned). Fox builds worlds I want to stay in.
June 3, 2025
DNF at 57%
I loved the first half of the book. The romance, the characters, their past pain, the town.
But
It’s dragging and getting more and more confusing. It’s turning into a fantasy story and it just doesn’t make any sense to me.
And I keep having to go back to figure out who’s talking, I keep confusing the two MCs.
And after 269 pages, I feel like I can give it a rating even if I DNF. 🤷♀️
I loved the first half of the book. The romance, the characters, their past pain, the town.
But
It’s dragging and getting more and more confusing. It’s turning into a fantasy story and it just doesn’t make any sense to me.
And I keep having to go back to figure out who’s talking, I keep confusing the two MCs.
And after 269 pages, I feel like I can give it a rating even if I DNF. 🤷♀️
January 4, 2017
Seven Summer Nights
By Harper Fox
Published by the author November, 2016
Cover by Jay Aheer
388 pages
Five stars
The entire premise of this book made me anxious. Set in 1946, just a year after World War II ended (a year after my parents married, nine years before I was born), “Seven Summer Nights” is in a world that was, to say the least, uncongenial to gay folk, both in the UK and in the USA. Historical novels about gay men always worry me, and thus I am awestruck when an author can pull off a convincing story without warping reality to suit modern sensibilities. And yet, historically, it was a time when, having survived the nightmare of a war that ended in nuclear destruction, some gay men and women began to reevaluate the world around them, and to discount the religious and social opprobrium that had hitherto been accepted without question. The world had literally been blown to pieces, and nothing sacred was left unquestioned – including the very idea of what was sacred.
“Seven Summer Nights” is simply beautiful from the beginning. Fox’s cinematic sense of place is in full sway, and her hero’s pain and confusion are at the fore, keeping her readers from fully understanding what’s going on, while enveloping them in sensation and emotion. It is a remarkable start. Fox’s unparalleled writing brings her broken hero, Rufus Denby, from a small, dusty island in the Greek archipelago to a small, untouched verdant town deep in the English countryside. Rufus Denby is someone it takes a long time to understand over the course of the book’s long narrative; but as soon as he rescues a dog from the ruins of his former apartment block in London, we know without doubt that he is the moral core of this story. By the time Denby and Pippin reach Droyton Parva, I was hopelessly hooked.
As I read “Seven Summer Nights,” I had in mind Mary Renault’s amazing but sad novel, “The Charioteer,” written in 1953 about a gay man during World War II. But I also had in mind Anthony Trollope’s Barchester novels, set amidst the small-town lives of gentry and clergy in Victorian England – all of which I’ve read more than once. Fox makes that connection explicit, once Rufus Denby meets the Reverend Archibald Thorne (a very Trollopian name), who is the widowed vicar of Droyton Church.
Archie Thorne suspects there is something important about his little medieval church, set on a hillock outside of the village of Droyton Parva. He asks his cousin Caroline, a deputy director at a great London museum, to send an apprentice archaeologist out to see if he can’t uncover something before the diocese sends in a restoration team. His cousin (who is a lesbian, which matters in this book) sends him the unemployed and mentally compromised Dr. Denby. Rufus immediately sees something remarkable in this isolated and unknown ancient church, and lets himself be drawn into the chaotic, big-hearted orbit of the Reverend Thorne. Here the book takes on a wonderful sort of hilarious Brit-com action; the charm of the town and the eccentric variety of its denizens lulling both Denby and the reader into a sense of peace and comfort. But two things work against this peace: Denby’s realization that he is falling for Archie Thorne, and the recurrence of his own violent episodes, triggered by nightmares that stem from his final bloody battle in the war.
There are two dark subplots weaving their way into Rufus’ bucolic retreat, both of them concerning grieving young women. Rufus’ widowed sister, Rosemary, lives with her martinet father-in-law, Brigadier Spence, who bullies her and demands that Rufus remember good things about his son – who died during Rufus’ last battle in France. Then there’s Alice Winborn, niece of Droyton Parva’s local sawbones, Dr. Winborn. Alice is lovely, but is grieving her own wartime loss. Winborn has known Archie Thorne since he was a boy, and seems determined to marry off his daughter and thus cure her sadness.
Of course, into this already complex stew, Harper Fox introduces an element of magic, about which I will say nothing other than it embraces the nighttime wanderings of an eccentric madwoman, long-forgotten history, and an ancient enmity between two of Droyton Parva’s oldest families.
Remarkably, Fox manages to stay within the bounds of contemporary gay romance fiction, while creating a literary setting for her readers that is as beautiful and good as anything by any prize-winning author today. Her craftsmanship as a writer is startling. He attention to character and place and the deep emotional underpinnings of her plots are her greatest gifts to her fans.
Someday Harper Fox will not impress me. This was not that day.
By Harper Fox
Published by the author November, 2016
Cover by Jay Aheer
388 pages
Five stars
The entire premise of this book made me anxious. Set in 1946, just a year after World War II ended (a year after my parents married, nine years before I was born), “Seven Summer Nights” is in a world that was, to say the least, uncongenial to gay folk, both in the UK and in the USA. Historical novels about gay men always worry me, and thus I am awestruck when an author can pull off a convincing story without warping reality to suit modern sensibilities. And yet, historically, it was a time when, having survived the nightmare of a war that ended in nuclear destruction, some gay men and women began to reevaluate the world around them, and to discount the religious and social opprobrium that had hitherto been accepted without question. The world had literally been blown to pieces, and nothing sacred was left unquestioned – including the very idea of what was sacred.
“Seven Summer Nights” is simply beautiful from the beginning. Fox’s cinematic sense of place is in full sway, and her hero’s pain and confusion are at the fore, keeping her readers from fully understanding what’s going on, while enveloping them in sensation and emotion. It is a remarkable start. Fox’s unparalleled writing brings her broken hero, Rufus Denby, from a small, dusty island in the Greek archipelago to a small, untouched verdant town deep in the English countryside. Rufus Denby is someone it takes a long time to understand over the course of the book’s long narrative; but as soon as he rescues a dog from the ruins of his former apartment block in London, we know without doubt that he is the moral core of this story. By the time Denby and Pippin reach Droyton Parva, I was hopelessly hooked.
As I read “Seven Summer Nights,” I had in mind Mary Renault’s amazing but sad novel, “The Charioteer,” written in 1953 about a gay man during World War II. But I also had in mind Anthony Trollope’s Barchester novels, set amidst the small-town lives of gentry and clergy in Victorian England – all of which I’ve read more than once. Fox makes that connection explicit, once Rufus Denby meets the Reverend Archibald Thorne (a very Trollopian name), who is the widowed vicar of Droyton Church.
Archie Thorne suspects there is something important about his little medieval church, set on a hillock outside of the village of Droyton Parva. He asks his cousin Caroline, a deputy director at a great London museum, to send an apprentice archaeologist out to see if he can’t uncover something before the diocese sends in a restoration team. His cousin (who is a lesbian, which matters in this book) sends him the unemployed and mentally compromised Dr. Denby. Rufus immediately sees something remarkable in this isolated and unknown ancient church, and lets himself be drawn into the chaotic, big-hearted orbit of the Reverend Thorne. Here the book takes on a wonderful sort of hilarious Brit-com action; the charm of the town and the eccentric variety of its denizens lulling both Denby and the reader into a sense of peace and comfort. But two things work against this peace: Denby’s realization that he is falling for Archie Thorne, and the recurrence of his own violent episodes, triggered by nightmares that stem from his final bloody battle in the war.
There are two dark subplots weaving their way into Rufus’ bucolic retreat, both of them concerning grieving young women. Rufus’ widowed sister, Rosemary, lives with her martinet father-in-law, Brigadier Spence, who bullies her and demands that Rufus remember good things about his son – who died during Rufus’ last battle in France. Then there’s Alice Winborn, niece of Droyton Parva’s local sawbones, Dr. Winborn. Alice is lovely, but is grieving her own wartime loss. Winborn has known Archie Thorne since he was a boy, and seems determined to marry off his daughter and thus cure her sadness.
Of course, into this already complex stew, Harper Fox introduces an element of magic, about which I will say nothing other than it embraces the nighttime wanderings of an eccentric madwoman, long-forgotten history, and an ancient enmity between two of Droyton Parva’s oldest families.
Remarkably, Fox manages to stay within the bounds of contemporary gay romance fiction, while creating a literary setting for her readers that is as beautiful and good as anything by any prize-winning author today. Her craftsmanship as a writer is startling. He attention to character and place and the deep emotional underpinnings of her plots are her greatest gifts to her fans.
Someday Harper Fox will not impress me. This was not that day.
November 15, 2021
That was really lovely. I haven't read a Harper Fox novel in years, but hers were some of the first books I loved in the genre and I now remember why. There's a particular brand of magical realism that Fox is so good at, found here in spades, and deeply compelling. She is also a phenomenal writer, the prose lush and evocative, conjuring up a sun-drenched English countryside as astutely as the sweet tension between two men who find themselves drawn toward each other despite the times. Set in the aftermath of WWII, this story introduces us to an iconoclastic clergyman and a disgraced archaeologist, as well as a host of other interesting characters, finding each other in a tiny English village. The plot is almost beside the point, there are definitely important themes relating to class and mental health and war and misogyny and homophobia, but what I like best was the simple and sincere interactions between the characters, the beautiful backdrop, and the found family idea. It's quite a long book - almost 500 pages - but I really enjoyed it.
April 18, 2021
I'm sure I'll feel bad about this rating tomorrow but gsus christ this was so boooooring and had absolutely 0 pay off.
I was almost pulling my hair out needing it to be over, so I'm feeling this rating right now, but there's nothing terribly wrong with this story aside from the fact that it is completely unremarkable.
10 hours I'll never get back.
I was almost pulling my hair out needing it to be over, so I'm feeling this rating right now, but there's nothing terribly wrong with this story aside from the fact that it is completely unremarkable.
10 hours I'll never get back.
August 10, 2025
❝𝐎𝐡, 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰—𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬—𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬.❞
I’ll leave you with this lovely quote and simply say—it’s a truly beautiful book. I hope you’ll read it.
December 4, 2016
What a beautiful book, so full of events and emotions. It is a long one, and it took me several days to read it, but it was wonderful to spend those days with Rufus and Archie, and all the others. And there was so much happening there... everything in the book happens within a few weeks but it feels so much longer because of how saturated it is, how much everyone experiences. And there are so many parts of this book that I loved that I almost don't know what to start from.
Rufus... my God, what a beautiful person he is. So easy to love. His kindness and his humbleness, his readiness to be forgiving about almost everyone and everything, his always putting his own interests last. And oh, his sadness. I think there is a kind or pattern about some of Harper Fox's books. When they start with the main character being in a horrible misery that just breaks your heart when you read about it. And then it goes worse and worse, until you feel you cannot stand a moment of it more... and then the fated couple meets, and there is some respite from angst and the chance for them to fall in love... and then some more angst before the ending. But yeah, this works perfectly. And Rufus is probably one of the most tortured characters I've ever met. And one of the most admirable ones.
All right, I started crying on the dog in this one - but it was not the last time when I cried. Yes, the dog - don't let me forget! The way we meet her - I'm not sure I've read anything more pitiful.
I loved Rufus' generosity, his readiness to give when he himself doesn't have anything. But Archie is no less giving, and I loved him just as much, too. He is the one to take care of Rufus, to give to Rufus when Rufus refuses to accept anything for himself. The one who saves Rufus in so many ways. So warm and sweet, brave and pure, and *whole* in everything he does. Their love was heartbreakingly beautiful. And yes, so much was compressed into so few days but you'll have no doubt how strong and how lasting their feelings are.
The archeology/mystery parts of the book were awesome. I can't imagine how much work and knowledge the author put there but it was fascinating. I loved the symbolism of labyrinths, of Minotaur, a beast inside a man and fighting against it. The miracles were something that made me shiver in delight and feel doubts at the same time. I think I can easily believe in miracles of spirit but miracles of body... not so sure. And yet it was even more interesting because of it.
I loved so many other characters of the book. Drusilla, Elspeth and Mrs. Nettles. Alice's story was amazing. I even liked Mrs. Trigg and Jebediah. Even Winborn, as much as I was angry with him - in the end I felt compassion towards him. And that is another thing that won my heart in this book - the author's kindness, her compassionate way towards her characters, almost all of them. It was such a comforting book in this way.
All right, then there were a couple of small things I didn't love that much. Like
But those are really just some details that don't make me love the book less. It was so rich and memorable. Reading it was a breathtaking experience. I lived in that world for a few days, and it felt great.
Rufus... my God, what a beautiful person he is. So easy to love. His kindness and his humbleness, his readiness to be forgiving about almost everyone and everything, his always putting his own interests last. And oh, his sadness. I think there is a kind or pattern about some of Harper Fox's books. When they start with the main character being in a horrible misery that just breaks your heart when you read about it. And then it goes worse and worse, until you feel you cannot stand a moment of it more... and then the fated couple meets, and there is some respite from angst and the chance for them to fall in love... and then some more angst before the ending. But yeah, this works perfectly. And Rufus is probably one of the most tortured characters I've ever met. And one of the most admirable ones.
All right, I started crying on the dog in this one - but it was not the last time when I cried. Yes, the dog - don't let me forget! The way we meet her - I'm not sure I've read anything more pitiful.
I loved Rufus' generosity, his readiness to give when he himself doesn't have anything. But Archie is no less giving, and I loved him just as much, too. He is the one to take care of Rufus, to give to Rufus when Rufus refuses to accept anything for himself. The one who saves Rufus in so many ways. So warm and sweet, brave and pure, and *whole* in everything he does. Their love was heartbreakingly beautiful. And yes, so much was compressed into so few days but you'll have no doubt how strong and how lasting their feelings are.
The archeology/mystery parts of the book were awesome. I can't imagine how much work and knowledge the author put there but it was fascinating. I loved the symbolism of labyrinths, of Minotaur, a beast inside a man and fighting against it. The miracles were something that made me shiver in delight and feel doubts at the same time. I think I can easily believe in miracles of spirit but miracles of body... not so sure. And yet it was even more interesting because of it.
I loved so many other characters of the book. Drusilla, Elspeth and Mrs. Nettles. Alice's story was amazing. I even liked Mrs. Trigg and Jebediah. Even Winborn, as much as I was angry with him - in the end I felt compassion towards him. And that is another thing that won my heart in this book - the author's kindness, her compassionate way towards her characters, almost all of them. It was such a comforting book in this way.
All right, then there were a couple of small things I didn't love that much. Like
But those are really just some details that don't make me love the book less. It was so rich and memorable. Reading it was a breathtaking experience. I lived in that world for a few days, and it felt great.
March 9, 2017
Gosh, Harper Fox is an amazing storyteller. In fact, Harper is my "go to" author when I want a "tale" rather than a simple story, and often, I not only find a tale, I fine one that I can classify as "ye olde tales of yore."
So this one is historical, of course, with a dash of fantasy, sprinkled with witchcraft. But at the heart of the matter is a romance between two men in the period immediately after WWII in England. One man is shell-shocked, suffering from what would be PTSD nowadays, complete with flashbacks, memory loss, and bouts of anger of unknown origin. The other, also a vet, is a vicar who no longer believes in God, but has the capacity to love his fellow man to the utmost. So much so, that he opens his home to all those lost souls who have nowhere else to go.
The meat of the story centers around an archeological find -- a potential labyrinth site with spiritual connotations -- both seen and unseen. The romance between the two men is slow to develop, but strong nevertheless. Archie's heroism in rescuing Rufus from the mental institution was one of the highlights of the story for me. The resolution of the mystery surrounding the church and the labyrinth was eased with a sprinkle of magic but enjoyable anyway.
Overall, the story started slow for me, likely due to the depth of detail the author lays down before building each facet of the story to reach the exciting second half that just swept me away. All in all, one of my favorites so far this year, and definitely one I'd highly recommend.
4.75 stars
So this one is historical, of course, with a dash of fantasy, sprinkled with witchcraft. But at the heart of the matter is a romance between two men in the period immediately after WWII in England. One man is shell-shocked, suffering from what would be PTSD nowadays, complete with flashbacks, memory loss, and bouts of anger of unknown origin. The other, also a vet, is a vicar who no longer believes in God, but has the capacity to love his fellow man to the utmost. So much so, that he opens his home to all those lost souls who have nowhere else to go.
The meat of the story centers around an archeological find -- a potential labyrinth site with spiritual connotations -- both seen and unseen. The romance between the two men is slow to develop, but strong nevertheless. Archie's heroism in rescuing Rufus from the mental institution was one of the highlights of the story for me. The resolution of the mystery surrounding the church and the labyrinth was eased with a sprinkle of magic but enjoyable anyway.
Overall, the story started slow for me, likely due to the depth of detail the author lays down before building each facet of the story to reach the exciting second half that just swept me away. All in all, one of my favorites so far this year, and definitely one I'd highly recommend.
4.75 stars
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