Shelter by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins (Bateman Books, $34.99)
Joe is a 21-year-old builder in Auckland when he lays eyes on Leo: a bit older, much more sophisticated and with the kind of allure that makes Joe risk humiliation in order to get Leo to notice him.
Joe is determined, andafter a mating ritual that Leo finds perplexing but inevitable (he's not queer), the pair move into Leo's beautiful, tiny home in the grounds of a large property in the heart of Auckland. Joe, Leo and the city herself are the protagonists through which this story will unfold.
Joe is obsessed. Never a reader, he throws himself into the classics, initially to please Leo. These boys are in love, connecting on a deeply emotional and intellectual level that seems to baffle Leo – he has had no other sexual relationships with men whereas Joe has known he was gay since childhood. Life is good, but as time goes on and Joe wants the normal stuff – to meet Leo's friends, to introduce him to his mum – Leo withdraws and in a bungled attempt not to end but to redefine their relationship, devastates Joe by leaving Auckland.
The first part of Shelter is a whirlwind romance with the city of Auckland and her architecture scaffolding their hearts and their story. Leo introduces Joe to the beauty of the buildings, the travesty of their loss when they are pulled down to make room for lucrative skyscrapers. But when Leo leaves, Joe doesn't move on. He meets new people, has a few interesting relationships, forms an unlikely bond with Betty, an elderly lady with love to spare, connections and a story of her own, but his heart remains Leo's.
Joe is a startlingly crafted character. Jenkins doesn't hold back from showing this boy as he becomes a man in all his glorious intellectual awakening, creating a complex emotional prison for himself as he succeeds in so many aspects of his life but stunts his capacity for connection as he pines for Leo.
Leo comes back into Joe's life eventually, and the re-moulding of their relationship is heartbreaking and beautiful. I was captured by this story – of a young man with so much love to give, of the nooks and crannies of Auckland discovered on magical night walks, by the passion and the yearning to live life authentically. It's a unique love story, one that will stay with me, particularly when I visit Auckland and see her beauty with newly informed eyes.
