Mere Mortals by Erastes
10 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in authors, Erastes Tags: Erastes
Title: Mere Mortals
Author: Erastes
Publisher: Lethe Press
Pages: 245
Characters: Crispin Thorne, Jude Middleton, Myles Graham, Philip Smallwood
POV: 1st Person
Setting: Norfolk, England—Bittern’s Reach
Genre: Historical Mystery
Cover Rating: 5
Kisses: 5
Blurb:
Orphaned Crispin Thorne has been taken as ward by Philip Smallwood, a man he’s never met, and is transplanted from his private school to Smallwood s house on an island on the beautiful but coldly remote, Horsey Mere in Norfolk. Upon his arrival, he finds that he’s not the only young man given a fresh start. Myles Graham and Jude Middleton are there before him, and as their benefactor is away, they soon form alliances and friendships, as they speculate on why they’ve been given this new life. Who is Philip Smallwood? Why has he given them such a fabulous new life? What secrets does the house hold and what is it that the Doctor seems to know? Trust acclaimed author Erastes to tell a moving story in the field of gay historical romance.
Review:
Grief can manifest itself in many ways, not the least of which is a desperate and overwhelming insanity, the chilling premise at the heart of Mere Mortals; a haunting, briskly paced and emotionally satisfying novel from Erastes.
The story is told in the first person by young Crispin Thorne, an orphaned boy who is offered a singular opportunity to become something more than his circumstances would normally have allowed in 19th century England, in the days when his true nature was considered a criminal offense. Caught in a compromising position at school and in danger of being sent down, which might have meant prison, at worst, or the streets or workhouses, at best, Crispin, instead, becomes the ward of a mysterious benefactor, a wealthy man with a generous nature and a dark and chilling secret, a man who offers Crispin an opportunity to have everything in life that fate has denied him by virtue of his birth but which will come to him at a very steep cost.
Arriving at Bittern’s Reach on a remote island in the cold, windswept broads of Norfolk, the absolutely perfect atmosphere and setting for a mystery, Crispin is greeted by his doppelgangers—Jude Middleton and Myles Graham—two young men of similar circumstance and prospect as Crispin himself. The three have little choice but to align with one another, as they are each bound and beholden to the man who has given them everything they’ve ever missed in their lives—attention, material possessions, and a sense of worth and purpose for their futures.
Erastes lures the reader along through the narrative of Mere Mortals, allowing a false sense of calm and normalcy to permeate the story, while all the while offering tidbits of information and foreshadowing, threading and weaving together a much different picture than that offered on the surface. The language and cadence of the plot are the perfect complement to the Victorian era setting, each detail and bite of dialogue meant to advance the story to its rousing climax, then winding down to a rewarding payoff in the end.
Though the story is told in the limited first person, this is most certainly an ensemble piece, each character being well developed and distinct. The limited point of view works perfectly in the telling of the story, as the unknown, the hidden details and the way in which they are exposed to Crispin, help to include the reader in the jolt of each new revelation.
Alone in the world, three orphans—unclaimed by familial bonds, negligible, disposable—play the pawns in a game of one man’s delusion. United by chance and divided by avarice and betrayal, the young men each pay the price of another’s tragedy.
For fans of historical fiction, I would most certainly recommend adding Mere Mortals to your reading list.
Reviewed By: Lisa
