The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

Face Blind (Glastonbury tales 1)
Published by Riptide, 2022
Five stars

Small-scale, intimate, and emotionally complex is the best way to describe this first book in J.L. Merrow’s Glastonbury tales. The visual centerpiece is the famous Glastonbury Tor—an ancient stone tower on a hill that, for some folks, is as much a draw as Stonehenge. Against this setting of myth and modern tourism, Merrow places the lives of ordinary young people thrown into uncertainty.

Corin Ferriman and Adam Merchant are both recent arrivals to Glastonbury. Corin, brain-damaged in a car accident which has rendered him face-blind, is looking for anonymity and a place where he’s not expected to recognize anyone. Adam is returning to his hometown after a long sojourn in London, trying to reestablish his life in the wake of his mother’s unexpected death.

Merrow’s great gift is giving us characters who earn our sympathy and affection, while facing serious emotional hurdles that give the reader something to root for. The classic tropes of gay romance are handled tenderly and with great care. Both young men face challenges in terms of professional and personal identity. The looming question is whether or not those challenges will allow them to find room for each other in their lives.

Corin’s face-blindness is a rather harrowing thing to imagine, but Merrow manages to find something equally unnerving for Adam to deal with. The Glastonbury background is wonderfully apt for this story, and Merrow makes the most of it.