While England Sleeps [Paperback]

David Leavitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 1995

David Leavitt has earned high praise for his empathetic portrayal of human sexuality and the complexities of intimate relationships. Now, with While England Sleeps, available for the first time in two years, Leavitt moves beyond precisely controlled domestic drama to create a historical novel, one that has greater breadth and resonance than anything he has written before. Set against the rise of fascism in 1930s Europe, While England Sleeps tells the story of a love affair between the aristocratic young British writer Brian Botsford, who thinks homosexuality is something he will outgrow, and Edward Phelan, a sensitive and idealistic working-class employee of the London Underground and a Communist party member. When the strains of class difference, sexual taboo, and Brian's ambivalence impel Edward to volunteer to fight against Franco in Spain, Brian pursues him across Europe and into the violent chaos of war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of The Lost Language of Cranes offers a departure in both format (the narrative is told in flashback) and setting (the milieu is Spain and Europe) in his latest novel, a haunting reminiscence with faint echoes of E. M. Forster's Maurice . As in that earlier gay-themed story, a young man from Britain's upper class falls in love with a youth beneath his station. Events here, however, are exacerbated by world events: the roiling background of the Spanish Civil War in 1936-37 as recalled in 1978 by Brian Botsford, a novelist and erstwhile lover of Edward Phelan, a ticket-taker in the London underground. The young Brian, wary of his homosexuality at a time when the word was scarcely spoken, shares his digs with 20-year-old Edward but engages in a desultory heterosexual affair as well. Edward discovers the liaison and flees England to join the Loyalists in Spain. Brian's realization of what he has lost leads to the book's most wrenching segment: his arduous attempts to secure the release of his friend, who has been jailed after trying to desert. Leavitt captures his protagonists' youthful ardor--both amatory and political--with an understated style that carries the reader as the story builds in intensity. The air of doomed romance permeates but never overwhelms the book; this is a finely crafted melodrama in the best sense of the word. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Best known for The Lost Language of Cranes (1988), recently adapted into a BBC TV movie, Leavitt is one of the most gifted writers of gay fiction. The prose of both Cranes and his new novel is positively lyrical. While England Sleeps is a historical romance in the purest sense. The narrator, Brian Botsford, is a member of England's upper class, an ambitious writer who happens to be homosexual (not gay in the contemporary sense, not least because he initially suspects he will "outgrow" the inclination). He falls in love with Edward Phelan, who is definitely not from the upper class; in fact, he works on the underground and still lives with his family. Edward moves in with Brian, and all's well until social mores and the effects of repression intrude on their happiness. After the relationship deteriorates, Edward, who has Communist leanings, goes off to fight Fascists in the Spanish civil war. Brian's race to rescue him leads to the book's climax. Brian tells this story from his old age in a tone that evokes a feeling akin to a pentimento: his life has been altered by an all too quickly fading memory of love. The novel's action is compelling, its language beautiful. Its story lingers as movingly in the reader's memory as in its narrator's Charles Harmon --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; Revised edition (October 19, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395752868
• ISBN-13: 978-0395752869
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #639,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching and Accessible, March 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: While England Sleeps (Paperback)

David Leavitt is one of the most easily accessible authors writing about gay life these days. While England Sleeps is especially interesting because of its setting in England, Spain and Germany during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930's.The love story is touching and the characterizations are deft, although the characters do sound like refugees from Saki when they open their mouths (complete with interfering aunts).Another interesting aspect of this book is its history. Its hard cover publication led to a bitter law suit and the withdrawal of the book from publication in England as part of a settlement. The book was revised in paperback and Leavitt's thoughts on this experience are added as a preface. A reader would have a hard time forgetting this book once read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcending gender and orientation -- an honest love story., July 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: While England Sleeps (Hardcover)

Visiting my local library to hopefully pick up Arkansas (David Leavitt's latest collection), I found this book instead. I'm not gay or male, but I love reading love stories of all types. This one is so pure and heartfelt, it transcends gender, orientation, time, place, etc. Taking place both in present day Hollywood and Europe during the Spanish Civil War, it tells the universal story of, basically, being ashamed of your lover--and realizing too late that nothing matters but how you really feel inside. The book has both funny and tragic moments and even though terrible things happen, in the end I just felt a great reward. Now I'm looking forward even more to reading Arkansas, which has received great reviews. While England Sleeps should not be missed if you like this author's work

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad, yet Truthful, November 10, 2004

By 

Yuki Shinobu (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: While England Sleeps (Paperback)

I read this novel in a day and a half because I found that I could not put it down. Brian, to me, seems like an average guy who is a bit shallow and only interested in fast sex. Edward, on the other hand, is more sensitive and committed to their relationship.
Brian has a lot of fears because of his homosexuality. He thinks that it's just a phase that he'll pass, and that of course, he will marry and live happily ever after with wife and children. So he screws just about anyone he finds, in bathrooms, restaurants, while at home, Edward is waiting for him.
Brian also sleeps with a woman, whom he plans to marry, once he gets over the lies he has told paractically everyone. But he keeps the charade and comes back really late at home, and sleeps on the couch saying that he doesn't want to disturb Edward. More stuff like this happens, but I will not go into it, cause it's really sad.

Anyway, Edward leaves but later sends a note to Brain for help, and Brain goes to England to rescue him.
You know from the other reviews what happens to Edward and to Brain. It's so depressing that I can hardly write about it.
But even if Brain continued his life with Edward, I think that it still would not have worked out. Brain is teribbly unfaithful by nature, while Edward is not. Their relationship would have ended again, despite Brain's attempts to committ. He just can't do it.

Maybe I expected too much, but I really doubt that Brain truly loved Edward. I know that he cared about him a whole lot, but the reason he wanted to rescue him was more beacause he felt responsible for driving him away. He didn't want someone he cared for to die or be unhappy beacause of him.
The reason why he always remembers Edward is because he is there no more, and when something could have gone differently, we always wonder and wish that time could be reversed.
But Brain says that even if time could be reversed, he is not sure that we would want it to be, therefore he couldn't have truly honestly "loved" Edward. The passion that they shared was kind of lost due to Brain's infidelity.

Overall, this book was very insightful. It's a study of the mind, though it might not seem so. By analyzing Brain's thoughts and feelings we can connect and understand what we sometimes wish to ignore. We can learn from his mistakes, so that later on we won't have regrets. Overall, it's important to think about what you are doing before you do it, and consider what consequences your actions might produce.