The Boy in the Rain

By: Stephanie Cowell

Narrated by: Philip Battley

It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton's enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor. But it is the Edwardian Era, and the law sentences homosexual men to prison with hard labor, following the tragic experience of Oscar Wilde. As Robbie and Anton's commitment to each other grows, the world about them turns to a more dangerous place.

©2023 Stephanie Cowell (P)2023 Tantor

Rollercoaster of emotions

I hope there will be a sequel because while I enjoyed this story and the characters, the ending was very sad and I refuse to believe that is the end of Robbie and Anton’s story.

One of the best I’ve listened to

Every aspect of this book is compelling, The story is unique and shines a light on an ugly time in British history. The lead characters are heart rendering and the supporting characters fill out the narrative admirably. The narrator is one of the best I’ve heard, truly excellent. The story never depends on the usual and predictable tropes. I hope a sequel has been or will be written.

An entrancing, unforgettable journey into the past

Literature is at its best when it creates a kind of cocoon around the reader, and you lose touch with the here and now. That is how it was for me reading The Boy in the Rain. This novel was a multi-decade project by the author, and there is that unmistakeable feeling of layers here as though it is has been lifted from the memories of the characters as it is retold. Cowell's prose is both concise and lyrical – some periods in the lives of the two main characters, Robbie and Anton, are delved into deeply. Others are relayed with only the pertinent details, very much like when people are recounting, or simply recalling, their lives.  This allows Cowell to cover a considerable period of time, drawing forward, shading, highlighting with the skill of an artist who knows where to place the emphasis, and where to hold back.

The story is told primarily from the standpoint of Robbie, a gifted young artist who moves to a small country town in Nottinghamshire to escape an unhappy home. Here he meets the handsome, slightly mysterious and elusive Anton, who, as they grow closer and eventually begin a relationship, opens him to his sexuality. At this period in Edwardian England, this is of course as beautiful a discovery as it is painful, and their complex relationship is tried as much from the outside as from the inner conflicts between them.

The story, perhaps I should say their relationship, which is the story, feels very much like a living thing, inhaling and exhaling – Anton breaks from Robbie in an attempt to repair a traditional life with his wife, and Robbie finds he must leave Anton to pursue an identity as an artist and as a man, apart from ‘just being Anton’s boy’ so to speak. These periods of growth happen for both of them for different reasons over the course of the novel, and a theme emerges around this idea of personal growth being sometimes at odds with a relationship which is, for the most part, the best thing that they have. But oh! those fiery, passionate times after a separation when they reconnect – wow! You absolutely have the sense these two cannot stay apart from each other, and your heart is just aching for them to find a means of remaining together.

I've focused a lot on the relationship between Anton and Robbie, simply because I responded so much to it, but this is also a richly vivid novel of this time in England just after Oscar Wilde’s trial and imprisonment. This terrible episode is certainly important in shaping the lives of these characters, and yet there is nothing dreary or maudlin here, only a deeply sympathetic humanizing of the subject. One has a real sense of how life was for homosexual men in this period, and there are a number of fascinating subplots, which draw upon the attitudes in society and the laws regarding queer men at the time, one in particular which is incredibly moving and poignant.

I should mention this is also a review of the audio version of the novel, and Philip Battley did a top-notch job with this story and characters. He’s the perfect combination of intense and restrained, which is absolutely in keeping with Cowell’s vision I think. I’m sure there is a temptation for a narrator to go over the top, to go for actor’s gold in the most dramatic scenes!, but that never happens. Philip was truly an asset to this novel, he’s a tremendous talent.

I cannot recommend The Boy in the Rain highly enough. I’m grateful that Ms Cowell at last released this beautiful story into the world after so many years bringing it into being. I’m personally, well, dying for a sequel, but until that day comes I will pay it the best compliment I can by rereading/relistening to this again, and again.

The Boy in the Rain really is that good