Book Reviews

Book Blurb

London, 1924. Evan Calver is enjoying a quiet pint, when he notices a man smiling at him across the bar. While the Rose and Crown isn’t that kind of pub, Evan thinks his luck might be in, and he narrowly escapes humiliation when he realises the man is smiling at a friend. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Evan discovers the man is named Milo Halstead and served as an army captain during the war.

 

When they meet again by chance in the British Museum, artist Milo asks Evan if he would sit for a portrait. Evan is amazed that an upper-class artist wants to paint the son of a miner, and he’s just as surprised when their acquaintance blossoms into friendship. When he discovers that Milo is a man like himself, he hopes that friendship might become more. But as Evan and Milo grow ever closer, can they escape the fears of the past to find their future happiness?

 

Book Review

“Life is a canvas of many strokes where shades from different palettes meet into a picture so concrete that some forget it is their own, so become framed themselves.” — Vanna Bonta Life

Evan Calver, of ‘Strokes on a Canvas’ by H. Lewis-Foster, comes to London to work after his health becomes too bad to work in the mines like his father and brother. He could have stayed there and found another job, but his illness made him feel as if the other men didn’t think he was virile enough. It makes his life easier to be in London away from the scrutiny.

One day after work, Evan is enjoying a drink at the local pub when he spies a man smiling at him. He’s intrigued, but decides that he must be imagining things, since the stranger is way above his class and may be insulted by any attention he gives back.  A few days later, Evan runs into the same man and tries to avoid him. But Milo is not going to let him get away so easily. He strikes up a conversation with Evan. He is an artist in need of a model and asks Evan if he will sit for him. Evan balks at the idea, thinking the man has lost his mind. Why would a high-class person like Milo want to paint a miner’s son? Although Evan is skeptical, Milo convinces Evan to sit for him.

At first Evan is nervous about Milo’s ulterior motives, but he’s soon convinced that there are none. He and Milo enjoy each other’s company and start spending a great deal of time together, getting closer to a physical relationship as time goes by. One day the smog in London is horrendous, causing Evan’s breathing problems to become quite bad. Evan is supposed to meet Milo for a date but realizes he is too sick to go. Since Evan can’t call Milo to cancel, he struggles to make it to Milo’s apartment despite his illness. When he gets there, Milo is appalled by his condition and terrified because he has no idea how to help Evan. Even though they continue to see each other with Milo introducing Evan to the pleasures of being a gay man, his fear of losing Evan begins to color his growing feelings for him. When it comes down to being intimate with Evan, Milo finds that he can’t go through with it.

A charming historical romance with all the cultural considerations of two men in the 1920s in Britain. I enjoyed witnessing Evan and Milo’s relationship through good and bad and was always rooting for them to work it out, even when things seemed hopeless. Thanks, H. Lewis-Foster, for giving them a happy ending.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 114 pages/29060 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	16-April-2019
Price	$2.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/strokes-on-a-canvas