I tend to pick up any of the McNally Editions that seem mildly interesting and I figured I’d give this one a go at the end of April when it was a bit rainy.
“The King of a Rainy Country” follows Susan and Neale who are platonic partners trying to figure out if they can be attracted to each other despite their common homosexuality (this was first published in 1956). Susan takes a job at a bookstore only to find out it sells erotic books. Looking through one of them, she sees a photo of her school crush, Cynthia, who she had a complicated almost relationship with but never got closure. Trying to find her in London, she realizes that Cynthia is trying to become an actress in Venice. Susan and Neale drop everything and go to Venice as last minute tour guides to fund the trip. IN Venice they find Cynthia and meet a few other characters that provide some changes to their relationship.
The real appeal of this novel is Brophy’s writing which has a certain command while seeming casual as if she were telling the story and meandering between topics and times. Very few writers can make this work without things becoming confusing but Brophy succeeds. That being said, this novel didn’t really grab me in any way–it was fine.
As a side note, this novel has a lot of French ands a fair amount of Italian which makes it difficult to follow without some background knowledge.
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