Whistling in the Dark (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Engaging all our senses with details that help fix us firmly in the characters world, Allen manages to capture a very real city at a specific point in its history. Dingy alleys, grimy walls, rundown apartments, cluttered shops, Ida's restaurant and her home-cooked meals - we get to see, smell, feel, taste, and hear everything. It's a great complement to a host of very real, very human characters. --Hayden Thorne, Speak its Name --Hayden Thorne, Speak its Name

Tamara Allen has peopled her story with diverse and colorful characters, villains and good guys alike, and keeps the reader involved with a series of subplots that, in my mind, could have filled yet another book. Kudos to the author! --Rainbow Reviews

Tamara Allen's lively book Whistling in the Dark is a touching love story about two young men, just back from World War I, who find each other in New York City in the autumn of 1919... the prose is lively and even musical (fitting, for the themes at play), and the connection between Jack and Sutton is depicted so fully and with such feeling that it almost doesn't matter where we are: New York, Sao Paolo, or The Twilight Zone, a good love story should choke you up and make you laugh in triumph. Those are things Allen does with aplomb. --Edge New York

Product Description

New York City, 1919. His career as a concert pianist ended by a war injury, Sutton Albright returns to college, only to be expelled after a scandalous affair with a teacher. Unable to face his family, Sutton heads to Manhattan with no plans and little money in his pocket but with a desire to call his life his own.

Jack Bailey lost his parents to influenza and now hopes to save the family novelty shop by advertising on the radio, a medium barely more than a novelty, itself. His nights are spent in a careless and debauched romp through the gayer sections of Manhattan.

When these two men cross paths, despite a world of differences separating them, their attraction cannot be denied. Sutton finds himself drawn to the piano, playing for Jack. But can his music heal them both, or will sudden prosperity jeopardize their chance at love?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Lethe Press; New edition (January 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590210492
• ISBN-13: 978-1590210499
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #642,171 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning first novel, April 6, 2009

By	Mark R. Probst (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every once in a while I'll read a book that will literally sweep me off into another world and hold me there, in a magical trance. WHISTLING IN THE DARK is one of those novels, and while reading it, I began to feel that I had no business being a writer as nothing I write will ever compare.

Tamara Allen uses a very light touch to show the New York City of 1919 as she recreates a post-war Mecca vividly describing the birth of prohibition, jazz, and radio stations; underground homosexual parties; automats; shady loan sharks; and two psychologically-damaged soldiers, Jack and Sutton, who find salvation in one another. The very long novel has a feel of Americana, but without the overly cheery optimism. What is so fascinating to observe, is how these two characters warm up to each other. The pace is deliciously slow and as they get to know each other, it never once feels staged, nor does the reader feel telegraphed ahead where there relationship is headed. It took great restraint to allow these characters to develop separately before they finally came together romantically. I shan't spoil you by telling you how it happens, but the circumstances that lead up to their first kiss, is one of the most unique and imaginative plot twists I've ever encountered.

Though the novel certainly deals with some dark and serious issues, the overall tone is buoyant and charming and I had a silly grin on my face though most of it. The myriad of supporting characters are well-drawn and there was the full range of good to bad. The only thing I will say that is even remotely negative is that I counted five straight characters that knew about the love affair between Jack and Sutton and were completely supportive of it. It's possible. Not likely, but possible. Also, this book has got to hold the record for the number of times the word "sandwich" is used. That's not a complaint, just a playful observation. There were so many sandwiches consumed in this book, I felt positively stuffed.

WHISTLING IN THE DARK is a truly remarkable first novel and a beautiful and poignant romance that deserves to be read and savored by anyone who appreciates good gay fiction. So please read it, then tell all of your friends to read it too.

Mark R. Probst

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Head and shoulders above the typical M/M romance novel, August 17, 2009

By	BhamGhostwriter "Patrick" (Birmingham, Alabama) - See all my reviews

Absolutely delightful! WHISTLING IN THE DARK is romantic, exciting and funny with just a soupçon of sexiness (but LOTS of love and friendship).

Somehow the author perfectly captured the mood of the roaring twenties and what I imagine it might have been like to be gay men in the big city during those post-WW1 days. Yes, that life (even for heroic returned veterans who happened to be gay) could be harrowing but there had to have been joys and validations as well - validations that we've built upon as the decades have gone by.

The excitement of the early, amateur-driven days of radio only adds to the fun herein and makes for a perfect framework for the love story that unfolds so naturally in these pages.

With so much of what passes on Amazon for gay male romance being - in actuality - cliché-ridden Craigslistian porn, it was truly a pleasant and welcome surprise to come across this novel. I treasure it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relevant to anyone who has been misunderstood, August 10, 2009

By	RebeccasReads.com "Rebecca's Reads" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

Reviewed by Patricia Berliner for Rebecca's Reads (7/09)

I loved the cover of the book. The sepia shade immediately sets us in a former time. The expressions on the faces of the two men, hugging companionably, invite us to join them on their emergence from darkness into light.

The story opens in the shadow of World War I in the City of New York in the year 1919. Sutton Albright meets Jack Bailey, both war veterans, both musicians, both poor and virtually homeless, both gay.

Sutton has just come back from the war, discharged because of serious injuries, wounded in body and spirit. Sutton is a man with secrets. Jack, also a veteran, orphaned when his parents died of influenza, seems to have no secrets, but does have a lot of friends. He runs the local novelty shop, not too great a business man, a great gathering place, always filled with people-a motley and haphazard crowd who come for companionship, but not to buy much, a great place to visit but not too great if you need to earn a living. In his spare time, Jack fiddles with repairing radios and, eventually, starts his own radio program.

Sutton, a concert pianist before the war, stopped playing during the war and refused to play after his return. The war, and other personal reminders of failed relationships, haunt Sutton, who can or will not let go of his secrets. But he cannot let go of his love of music. Cajoled by Jack and the motley assortment of neighbors, venders, shopkeepers and friends, Sutton agrees to do an on the air concert. The rest, as they say, is history...as Sutton attains success, fame and, most important, grows in trust and self-acceptance. At the end, he is "a new man." And Jack, too, has changed.

This book is gay themed and gay friendly. However, because it is a universal story of friendship, trust and healing, it is relevant to anyone who has been misunderstood, hurt, abandoned, or felt like an outsider looking in.

My one complaint, and it is an important one, is that the book filled with too much description, more than its share of redundancy and, after a while it started to seem like overkill. A good editing job would have resulted in a sharper, smoother flowing, and more readable story.