Thursday 16 January 2020

#BookReview : Royals by Emma Forrest



July, 1981. London. Shy, working-class Steven finds solace in beauty. Eighteen years old, he dreams of being a fashion designer. He's also gay, maybe – he hasn't decided yet. There's a lot Steven isn't sure about, like whether he hates himself or thinks he's amazing.
When he ends up in hospital after being brutally attacked by his father, he meets Jasmine, an heiress. Intoxicating, anarchic, fabulous Jasmine. Fuelled by their shared love of fashion, a friendship blossoms and soon, Steven finds himself swept into her hedonistic world, wholly beguiled. However, underneath the glitter and the frivolity, darkness lies.
Devastating, dazzling, queer and radical, Royals is a love story between unlikely friends from completely different worlds. It's about the power of art to transform lives and the power of families to destroy them. It's about working out who you are and what you want. It's a tale of giddy happiness, crushing lows and, ultimately, the fragility of lives lived too fast.
 

Royals by Emma Forrest is a fiction based in 1981 & published by Bloomsbury Publishers. The author is a British-American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

The story revolves around Steven, an introvert teenager who is still confused whether he is gay or not living in London in 1981. The story is told from our protagonist’s PoV & that’s how we come to know how he lived with his family where once his abusive father beats him up on the day of Charles & Diana’s wedding celebration and as a result he ends up in hospital. There he gets to meet Jasmine who was there after a failed suicide attempt. From there their story starts. But where will it go? Get this book here to know,
Reading stories based in the 90s or before that especially with LGBTQ+ theme has always intrigued me hence I was quite excited to read this book. The plot progresses slowly & defines each character in detail, but since the book has been written from the protagonist’s point of view hence the story has been told accordingly. What I loved the most is the mixture of humor with teenage friendship & love and how well the roller coaster of emotions has been depicted. To sum it up, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking forward to a light read & want to go through the 80s era once again.


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