ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – One Love by Matt Cain
One Love by Matt Cain will be published by Headline on 18th January in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to Joe Thomas for the proof copy.
2002
Danny arrives at Manchester University determined not to hide from the world any longer. This is the year his life will begin.
He locks eyes with a handsome stranger across the hall at the Freshers’ Fair. It starts with a wink and soon Danny and Guy are best friends.
2022
Now, both single for the first time in years, Danny and Guy return to the confetti-covered streets of the Gay Village for Manchester Pride.
After years of shared adventures and lost dreams, Danny finally plans to share the secret he has been keeping for two decades. He has always been in love with Guy.
Could this weekend be the end of a twenty-year friendship . . . or the start of something new and even more beautiful?
One Love begins in 2022 with long-term friends, Danny and Guy, arriving in Manchester for Pride weekend. Guy is now single for the first time in ages, and Danny is determined that he will finally tell him that he loves him and has done for twenty years. The story follows the pair over the course of the weekend and also takes us back to 2002, when they first met at Manchester University, and then we witness the ups and downs of their friendship over two decades.
As I’ve come to expect with Matt Cain’s books, this is a heartfelt and engaging story of love and friendship that is so easy to read and so full of the depths of human emotions. I loved the two main characters, like chalk and cheese in their behaviour, with Danny being camp and brash and Guy being quite the opposite, more reserved and straight-laced. There are some wonderful supporting characters too, particularly Danny’s mum, Eileen, and her friend, Arthur, who both provided me with lots to smile about.
I didn’t know how Danny’s revelation to Guy would turn out but this is ultimately a story about acceptance. The two men have to negotiate coming out to their families and friends, but they also have to accept themselves for who they truly are and it’s a journey they undertake that in many ways takes the full twenty years of their friendship.
Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measures, One Love is a delightful story that I looked forward to picking up, with characters that I thought were brilliantly portrayed, and a poignant and candid storyline.
Matt Cain is a writer, broadcaster, and a leading commentator on LGBT+ issues.
He was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, has written for all the major national newspapers, and is a regular presenter on Virgin Radio Pride. He’s also an ambassador for Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, plus a patron of LGBT+ History Month.
Matt’s first two novels, Shot Through the Heart and Nothing But Trouble, were published by Pan Macmillan. His third, The Madonna Of Bolton, became Unbound’s fastest crowdfunded novel ever. In 2021, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle was published by Headline Review and Becoming Ted followed in 2023.
Born in Bury and brought up in Bolton, Matt now lives in London with his husband, Harry, and their cat, Nelly.
For more information, please visit www.mattcainwriter.com.
