Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet

Orange Bitter Series / Seville Trilogy #1

by Anthony McDonald

This impressive debut novel is set in Seville in Spain during the mid-Seventies, just after the end of the repressive Franco regime, a period of great change. Focusing on the intertwined relationships of six young people of various nationalities and sexual persuasions, "Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet" is a romantic novel about love, frustration and betrayal. At once engrossing, comic and ultimately, infinitely touching this is a story of life in a newly liberal culture.

Genres: Fiction, Gay Fiction, M M Romance

220 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Anthony McDonald studied history at Durham University. He worked very briefly as a musical instrument maker and as a farm labourer before moving into the theatre, where he has worked in almost every capacity except those of Director and Electrician.
His first novel, Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet, was published in 2001 and his second, Adam, in 2003.
Orange Bitter, Orange Sweet became the first book in a Seville trilogy that also comprises Along The Stars and Woodcock Flight.
Other books include the sequel to Adam, - Blue Sky Adam - and the stand-alone adventure story, Getting Orlando.
Ivor's Ghosts, a psychological thriller, was published in April 2014.
The Dog In The Chapel, and Ralph: Diary of a Gay Teen, both appeared in 2014. Anthony is the also the author of the Gay Romance series, which comprises ten short novels.
Anthony McDonald's short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic
He has also written the scripts for several Words and Music events, based around the lives and works of composers including Schubert and Brahms, which have been performed in Britain and in Portugal.
His travel writing has appeared in the Independent newspaper.
After several years of living and teaching English in France McDonald is now based based in rural East Sussex.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this novel many, many years ago and enjoyed it immensely - I never read the two other novels in this trilogy - and when I read it did not associate it with Anthony McDonald's later novel 'Adam' which I enjoyed when I read for the first time and on reading it again - so I am happy to let my four star rating stand. I probably won't read it again - but I might - McDonald is a good, but not great, writer and possibly his early works were his best.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written with some excellent originally phrased thoughts.

[Michael Gornish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging and Satisfying read. Makes the reader want to continue reading the trilogy

Once again, Anthony McDonald succeeds in crafting a wonderful and sometimes intense story about young people who find themselves in Seville . First as strangers to each other, they manage to become true friends. Though I am not of their world and age, I was still able to find parts of each character which made them likeable and real. The author also gives us a gay male couple, James and Borgja, whose relationship deepens and strengthens even in the face of adversity and the characters' own weaknesses. They are living at a time and in a society where stable gay couples are not appreciated or in some cases even tolerated and that makes them even more appealing and to be admired. The author's rich geographical details of Seville and Granada and his clear love of aviation remind me of parts of has Dog in the Chapel trilogy, Pushing Fifty, and Silver City ( all of which I thoroughly enjoyed reading).

[Wolfram-Jaymes Keesing]

This is a solid 3.5 with unanswered questions about hitting 4. I enjoyed reading about the lives of people living in a time between wars: their technologies, their ideologies, their means of communicating with each other. I also liked how pleasantly the narrative was delivered.

However, the narrative was a bit jumpy and hard to follow at times. I didn't like that coincidence played such an important role in bringing the characters together, or how casually they came in and out of fortune.

I'll fix this review later.

[Ron Birchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-such a wonderful mystery

Very well-written story of loves and happiness and loves and sadness.
Much is unpredictable but you get the hollywood happy ending you actually hoped for

[Sharon Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average read. A couple of characters were annoying - Pippa in particular. Enjoyed the location of Spain which drew me to the book in the first place. Warmed to Borja's character. But not particularly memorable read.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The fluffy, sentimental writing of this author often annoyed me. By the end, I found that he had redeemed himself somewhat, but this still isn't a book I would recommend.

[Vivencio · Rating 3 out of 5]

a v. light but enjoyable read, the characters quite engaging. can't think of better ways to while away the time spent stuck in traffic during my commute to and from the office.

[⚓Dan⚓ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful book by Anthony McDonald!

Also available in Kindle format

[Roclaf Alter -Ego · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting story though it took awhile for the story to develop.