Patrick Gale’s perennially popular debut novel takes a wry and romantic look at love both in and out of the closet.
At fifteen years and eleven months, violinist Seth Peake is a musical prodigy who’s secretly attracted to men. Scheduled to begin music college in the fall, he is en route to Cornwall to spend the summer at the Trenellion Festival, a pacifist festival of art and music his family helped to found. There he falls head over heels for a gorgeous, unsuitable sculptor named Roland.
Seth’s older sister, Venetia, has a problem. Her period is five weeks late. But she’s a virgin and no one has touched her sexually except her father, Huw—a secret she has told no one. Is the world about to bear witness to history’s second immaculate conception? Doing her best to hold the family together is mother and wife Evelyn, who prays for Venetia to find fulfillment, Seth to be spared from pride, and her problems with Huw magically to vanish.
Inspector Maude Faithe—Mo to her friends—is a lesbian cop who fought for the right of policewomen to wear pants, given that they’re doing a “man’s job.” She has risen through the ranks of London’s Metropolitan Police and been promoted twice for bravery. She lives alone with her large cat and a secret tragedy—until she falls passionately in lust with a singer. As Mo and Hope become lovers, Mo’s dogged pursuit of the person responsible for stealing and desecrating the predictions of a newspaper astrologer leads to a surprising culprit.
A witty and wise novel about sexual equality and the thrills and perils of wish fulfillment, The Aerodynamics of Pork is an exhilarating ode to love that remains a cult favorite with Patrick Gale fans and readers of gay and lesbian fiction.
