About this item
Highlights
- Josh Moore lives with his family on the 'wrong side' of Hamilton, a gritty industrial city in southwestern Ontario.
- Author(s): Jeffrey Luscombe
- 262 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Literary
Description
Book Synopsis
Josh Moore lives with his family on the 'wrong side' of Hamilton, a gritty industrial city in southwestern Ontario. As a young boy, Josh plots an escape for a better life far from the steel mills that lined the bay. But fate has other plans and Josh discovers his adult life in Toronto is just as fraught with as many insecurities and missteps as his youth and he soon learns that no matter how far away he might run, he will never be able to leave his hometown behind. Jeffrey Luscombe's debut novel of repressed sexuality, family tension, and gritty locale will enthrall readers.
Review Quotes
"Luscombe revitalizes the over-romanticized 'coming out' novel by subjecting it to a cold shower of literary realism." - Lewis DeSimone for Lambda Literary Foundation
"In the depths of despair, standing outside looking in, Josh touches the hearts of those who have lost their way to their dreams and aspirations. His inability to find himself finally leads to an epiphany of his hidden, yet acknowledged, desires." - American Library Association GLBTRT Newsletter
"Shirts and Skins is authentic in its pathos, eloquent in its delivery, and well worth the read." - Kyle Thomas Smith for Edge
"Jeffrey Luscombe understands the power of what isn't said and has created a work that sizzles with repressed sexuality and family tension. The characters are utterly believable. A satisfying and compelling work." - Lauren B. Davis, author of The Empty Room, Our Daily Bread and The Radiant City
"Shirts and Skins is well-plotted and told with a craftsman's touch, deeply felt characters and a gritty sense of place." - Out in Print
"The down-to-earth hero of Shirts and Skins grows before our eyes from a charming, curious child with a budding attraction to boys and men to a blundering, sexually repressed, self-destructive adult who may or may not find the professional and personal fulfillment that seems almost destined to elude him. Set convincingly in the working-class world of a Canadian steel town at the end of the twentieth century, Jeffrey Luscombe's handsomely written novel builds naturally and without contrivance--like life itself--towards a climax that may surprise you." - Patrick E. Horrigan, author of Pennsylvania Station