The Phoenix (Paperback)

by Ruth Sims (Author) "Michael turned anxious brown eyes to his twin, and said in an edgy voice, "He'll be here today..." (more)
Key Phrases: makeup table, New York, Denys Hill, Jack Rourke (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A nice change on a bookshelf filled with WeHo boy toys and Sex and the City knock-offs." -- Metrosource Short List - September 2004

"A tale of love and hate, of passion and pain, The Phoenix is a book no one should miss." -- Blue Iris Journal, September 2004

"Ruth Sims joins the list of women who write about gay men, and do it well." -- Patricia Nell Warren (Front Runner; The Wild Man)Jan. 2005

"The rich descriptions ... makes every page a delight. I guarantee the last few chapters will take you for a ride." -- Queer Factors, September 2004

"Those who enjoy historical fiction will be enthralled..." -- ForeWord Magazine, September 2004

A novel that involves the struggle… and yearnings of the human heart, as this does, is for everyone. -- Prairie Flame, September 2004

THE PHOENIX is a masterful work that if ever adapted for television would feel right at home on "Masterpiece Theater". -- William Maltese A Slip to Die For; Thai Died),February 2005

The main characters and supporting cast are fully developed and ones readers will believe. -- Independent Gay Writer September 2004

Product Description
At fourteen, Kit St. Denys brought down his abusive father with a knife. At twenty-one his theatrical genius brought down the house. At thirty, his past — and his forbidden love — nearly brought down the curtain for good.

A compelling Victorian saga of two men whose love for each other transcends time and distance — and the society that considers it an abomination. Set in the last twenty years of the 19th century, The Phoenix is a multi-layered historical novel that illuminates poverty and child abuse, theatre history in America and England, betrayal, a crisis of conscience, violence and vengeance, and the treatment of insanity at a time when such treatment was in its infant stage. Most of all it is a tale of love on many levels, from carnal to devoted friendship to sacrifice.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: Writers' Collective (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932133402
• ISBN-13: 978-1932133400
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #570,345 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midwest Book Review: January 2007 Issue, January 2, 2007

By	Lori L. Lake "Author of Snow Moon Rising, The... (Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

Jack Rourke and his twin brother Michael are raised by an unloving prostitute mother and an abusive sailor father in the squalor of the late nineteenth century London slums. When Jack's brother dies at age thirteen, Jack violently escapes his old man's clutches and runs away.

Nick Stuart grows up on a farm with a religious fundamentalist father and helpless mother. Raised to follow in his father's footsteps and become the country doctor/vet, Nick rebels, flees his repressive father, and enrolls at university in London to receive an education.

Both young men try hard to escape the limitations of their youth. With the help of a theater owner, Lizbet Porter, and an adoptive father, Xavier St. Denys, Jack tries to shed the horror and grief of his frightful past. He reinvents himself as Kit St. Denys and becomes an actor and owner of a repertory company. Meanwhile, Nick starts his own medical practice and is committed to helping the downtrodden and poor receive medical care.

These two men might never have met one another, except that Nick and some friends attend a performance of "Hamlet," and Nick is spellbound by the starring actor, Kit St. Denys. He goes back to see the play repeatedly. Eventually, by chance, the two men meet, and it's love and lust and compelling attraction all at first sight.

But the story is hardly begun before complications develop in the most delicious ways. Kit has hidden so much of his past, even from himself, and Nick has trouble reconciling religion, family expectations, and the overwhelming compulsion he feels for Kit. There are plot twists and unexpected turns, and just when you think you understand what will happen next, Sims upends expectations with a deft and gleeful hand.

At one point, Kit gives Nick a book of sonnets in which he inscribes the following:

Without the sanction of Society,
Without the sanction of the Church,
Without the sanction of God,
I love you.

Though the men seem destined for one another, it seems that the world, London society, the theater, whole continents, and even Kit and Nick themselves conspire to keep the two apart. How can these two talented but haunted men possibly create a life together?

THE PHOENIX is a magnificent tour de force, a novel of searing power and grace and constant surprises as it winds its way through London and New York, the slums, high society, fancy theaters, castles, madness, and the agony of one wounded heart seeking comfort and love in the arms of another man despite being without the sanction of society, church, God, or his own good sense.

Ruth Sims has created an intensely fascinating world, Dickensian in breadth and compelling in its depth and the methods she uses to bring it to life. It's become commonplace for reviewers to toss off comment like "unputdownable," but in the case of THE PHOENEX, this is absolutely true. I haven't ready anything since Sarah Waters' work for evoking such an amazing and lush Victorian feel. Though the book is classified "historical," it's wildly evocative and dramatic without being melodramatic. The characters and themes will have you thinking about this book long after you've finished it. From the beginning to the end, the reader has no sure idea where the story will go, and while we fervently hope that Nick and Kit are, indeed, destined for love and happiness, the road they travel to invent and reinvent themselves is rocky, unpredictable, and utterly engrossing.

THE PHOENIX is fantastic writing and storytelling of the highest order. This is one book not to be missed. I give it my highest recommendation. ~Lori L. Lake, author of the "Gun" Series, Different Dress, Ricochet in Time, Snow Moon Rising, Stepping Out: Short Stories, and editor of Romance for LIFE! and the Lambda Literary Award anthology finalist, The Milk of Human Kindness.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First novels should not be this good, January 29, 2007

By	Rick R. Reed "Author of IM and Orientation" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to admit, I wasn't prepared to love this book as much as I did. Rarely does a book make me cry, but this one did. It's difficult to believe this is a first novel, because Ruth Sim's highly competent and polished storytelling seems to be honed from years of hard-won experience. Her decades- and continents-spanning story of two people in love (and no, it doesn't really matter that they are the same gender; love is love as Sims' story more than competently proves) is an intriguing (and often mesmerizing) blend of historical fact, pathos, comedy, and heart. Sims creates characters that are not just stock protagonists for her sweeping romantic story, but real individuals we come to know and love. This is the kind of book that you're sorry to see come to an end. Highly recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing first novel., November 11, 2004

By	E. Conley "Betty's Books" (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ruth Sims' novel, "The Phoenix", begins in 1882 London.

"But he's coming today, Jack. I know he is." Jack Roarke and his twin, Michael, dreaded their abusive father's homecoming. Shortly after Tom Roarke's return from the sea, the boys' uncaring mother had enough of her husband's beatings and left home, abandoning her sons. As Jack later states, "My father was a demon and my mother was a Whitechapel whore." Money was scarce and the thirteen year old boys were frequently hungry. Escaping his father for awhile, Jack wandered the city streets. He noticed a theater and went inside. Fascinated, he watched a rehearsal. Lizbet, the theater owner, took an instant liking to the bruised, but beautiful blonde boy. She taught Jack to read, to speak proper English-his cockney accent was gone. Jack did odd jobs around the theater and acted in small roles.

After a horrifying experience at home, involving his father, Lizbet took Jack away to St. Denys Hill, a country estate owned by her cousin, Xavier St. Denys. A wealthy entrepreneur and theater owner, St. Denys eventually adopted the boy. Jack's name was changed to Christopher, later affectionately shortened to Kit. Under St. Denys' tutelage, Kit grew to be an educated, cultured young man-and a talented actor. Kit was deeply saddened when his step-father died. He truly loved Xavier. As the only heir, Kit inherited St. Denys' sizeable fortune. With the inheritance, Kit started his own repertory company.

"The phoenix destroys itself in fire of its own making, then gives birth to itself again, endlessly." Like the phoenix, Jack Roarke, street urchin, was reborn as Kit St. Denys, the famous and respected stage actor.

"Four years before Jack Roarke was brought howling in protest into his squalid world, a boy was born to a self-taught physician and his wife, in a village lying on a slope of the Cotswolds." Nicholas Stuart's family was staunchly religious. Nick had to attended interminable three hour church services. Beyond boredom in church, Nick day-dreamed that he, "...ran barefoot in the thick green grass, or pranced with abandon in the rain, his head thrown back to catch raindrops on his tongue."

Nick's devout father was both doctor and veterinarian to the residents of the area. From the age of nine, Nick was groomed to take his father's place. As Nick matured, he realized he wanted to attend medical school to learn modern treatment methods. He didn't want to be stuck in the country his entire life. Over his father's objections, and with his mother's covert help, Nick went to medical school. After graduation, he opened a clinic for London's impoverished citizens.

One night, a group of his classmates insisted Nick accompany them to see a production of Hamlet at the Xavier Theater. Nick couldn't take his eyes off the play's star, Kit. Nick returned night after night, using dinner money to buy tickets, spellbound by Kit's portrayal of Hamlet. At the end of one performance, Kit injured his arm on a prop. The call for a doctor was answered by Nick. Kit was instantly attracted to handsome, blue-eyed Nick Stuart. They became lovers.

For a year Kit and Nick led peaceful, happy lives, but Kit's free and easy worldly ways frequently clashed with Nick's basic religious ideals. Nick was frequently left with doubts...he feared God's disapproval of his love for Kit.

Kit suffered from terrible nightmares, always seeing his evil father coming to beat him...or worse. When Kit was with a man for the night, the nightmares weren't so bad. He felt safer when he was held, just as he and Michael held each other as children, to comfort each other in the face of their father's fury. Nick the Puritan, didn't understand Kit's promiscuous past. He accused him of sleeping with half the men in England. "Half Nico? Only half? My God, how did that happen?" Nick replied, "You bypassed the ugly, the insane, and the dead!"

"The Phoenix" encompasses years and spans two continents, as the lovers' paths providentially cross, time and time again. Never predictable, Ruth Sims smoothly guides the plot through unforeseen events as the lives of Kit St. Denys and Nick Stuart come together. During one of their sojourns, Kit gave Nick a rare book of Shakespearian sonnets. On the flyleaf Kit inscribed:

Without the sanction of Society,
Without the sanction of the Church,
Without the sanction of God,
I love you.

Sims' characters' come to life on the pages of "The Phoenix". Kit, Nick, and supporting characters are believable, indeed loveable, and true to the time they lived in. The author researched the era well. I found myself living in the story, seeing it unfold through Kit's and Nick's eyes. I was on the Brooklyn Bridge, "...marveling at the mighty grace of the twisted steel cables of the "Eighth Wonder of the World."" Posh theaters in London and New York, and behind-the-scenes theater happenings came to life, as did the squalor of the slums of turn-of-the-century London and New York.

Ruth Sims is a natural wordsmith. Sentences such as, "The clanging bells of ambulances sharpened the afternoon into a thousand knives." ...are liberally peppered throughout "The Phoenix," Sims' first novel is a bona fide page turner. Just as Kit and Nick's lives seem to once again settle down, a horror from the past appears, and threatens to destroy them. I literally gave up any semblance of social life to find out what would ultimately become of Kit and Nick. Without a doubt, "The Phoenix" is a solid five star read.