A Timeless, Elegant Gay Romance Novel

A nail is one of James’s most constant companions. Because whenever he gets nervous—and that happens a lot—he presses the nail into the palm of his hand. The pain helps him focus, to speak in complete sentences, to find the right words. His dad gave him this tip.

James is a loner. The teenager doesn’t have many friends. The boys in his class can’t really relate to him, and the feeling is mutual. That’s mainly because of his insecurity: he doesn’t know how the guys interact with each other, he feels like an misunderstood outsider — because he’s different.

The village stands still, James wants to flee

James is reserved, shy, and wants no trouble. He speaks more carefully than the others, almost loftily. Since he came out as gay, his situation hasn’t gotten any easier. His parents sense that their son is lonely, but they can’t get through to him. The novel is set in 2002, when things were far less accepted, especially in the fictional village of Thornmere in the Northeast of England. With its 500 houses, the place seems still; James, however, wants out.

All that changes when, delivering milk on a farm, he meets Luke. James feels a magnetic pull toward the a year-older Luke. He grows more unsure, nervous again, but he has no nail. Instead, he digs his finger into his palm, but it doesn’t help, so he presses harder until it hurts. Then he manages a few words, just a harmless question.

He is ashamed of every lustful thought about other boys

Both are outsiders, but the two — no longer boys, but not yet adults — are fundamentally different. Luke is self-assured, cheeky, full of ideas, appearing as light as a feather — at least on the surface. He stirs up trouble, James’s parents warn him.

The attraction persists, even grows. James is almost obsessed with being near Luke. At the same time, he remains constantly insecure and tense. He is ashamed of every thought, of every time he imagines a fellow student during masturbation.

James’s desire knows no bounds

Seán Hewitt, born in 1990, has published several award-winning poetry volumes, none of which have yet been translated into German. You can feel it: in his first novel “Open Heaven” (Amazon affiliate link) he crafts poetic words to describe this emotional chaos. They are intense, precise depictions of a first love that unleashes all of James’s conflicting feelings: his longing is endless, his fear just as much. His desire knows almost no bounds, his shame likewise. These emotions exist at the same time; they fight and intensify one another.

All of this cripples James, making him stall. The narrative unfolds largely through encounters between him and Luke, and so it develops slowly. While Hewitt finds new, strong expressions for insecurity on one hand and pubescent longing on the other, the pace drags a bit, becoming repetitive and occasionally slipping into melodrama.

The novel offers a strong sense of identification in many moments

But that’s how it is with the feelings of an intensely in-love teenager who finally feels accepted and understood. And who hopes that Luke feels the same, only to fear that hope breaking apart. Because James is such a reflective young man, he tends to overthink everything. His self-doubt grows so large that it verges on self-hatred.

A lonely, misunderstood gay teenager in a backwater town, whose feelings command him and lift him to dizzying heights one moment and plunge him into despair the next—that may not be the most original setup for a story. Some readers may be done with sorrowful gay characters. Yet despite its length, “Open Heaven” — also thanks to Stephan Kleiner’s translation — remains a timelessly elegant novel.

The character work is precise, authentic, and allows for strong identification in many moments. The extensive descriptions of nature provide a counterpoint to that, crafting an atmospheric setting. Seán Hewitt has written a novel that shows how agonizingly beautiful it can be to fall in love for the first time.