Book Reviews

Book Blurb

When the trees start to fall, Charlie’s heart follows…

 

Being caught with another man sends Charlie Young fleeing his family to the forests of south-western Australia to scrape together steamer-passage to the big smoke of London. But life as a lumberjack isn’t easy, and it’s made worse when the men he works with are brash, bigoted, and often brutal.

 

All except Jack Tapper, who’s the kind of gentle giant that sets Charlie’s heart racing.

 

When the other men head into town for Christmas, it’s just Charlie and Jack and acres of forest. A few days alone is the perfect opportunity to indulge a passion that could set the whole forest ablaze, but Christmas is but one day of the year. When the men return, Charlie must make the tough decision about whether to make a new life with Jack or continue with his plans of running away to England.

 

And when there are sharp axes lying around, Charlie’s choice could be the difference between life and death.

 

First edition published under the title The Faller in Dreamspinner Press' 2018 Advent Calendar - Warmest Wishes, December 2018.

Book Review

Western Australia in 1912 was not exactly a safe place for a man to fall in love with another man, and as this story shows, the consequences were brutal. Charlie was caught kissing a male friend, ended up disowned by his family, and suddenly only has himself to rely on. Without any skills he ends up as a timber faller – a wonderful old word I looked up just to find out its history – and exposed to a group of rough-and-tumble men who are not just homophobic but ready to be cruel about it. But Charlie is determined to stick it out and make enough money to buy passage on a steamboat to London. That is probably as far away as he can imagine and he figures it will be easier to hide in a big city.

The environment that Charlie is exposed to is very well described: the huge forest, the loneliness, the hard, physical labor of felling trees day in and day out, the oppressive heat, and the borderline brutality of four other fallers who know what they are doing while Charlie is struggling to make his daily quota. Except for Jack, the strongest of them all, the others are out to ridicule Charlie just because he is not as strong as they are. I really felt for him!

As soon as the others go off to town for a few days over Christmas, everything changes and Charlie discovers a side to Jack he would have never expected. The only problem is that they can’t stay with the others, yet Charlie wants to wait until they get paid or lose all the money that he has worked so hard for. This decision almost costs him everything…

If you like historical Christmas romances that show things in a different light, if you believe that “tough” men can have a gentle side, and if you’re looking for a read that ends far better than it begins, then you will probably like this novella.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 67 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	05-August-2020
Price	$2.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Lumberjack-Gay-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B08FC31GCF