There are two things I immediately loved while reading Rosie Garland’s novel “The Night Brother”. Firstly, it’s a cosmopolitan story set at the beginning of the 20th century in Manchester. Most Victorian-set novels that depict a city only focus on London so it’s refreshing to see an alternative urban environment in a British historical novel with lots of Manchester-specific locations and events included. Secondly, this novel takes such a disarmingly unique perspective on gender and identity through its beautifully creative premise. The story follows the early life and young adulthood of Edie who lives her daily life as a woman, but at night physically transforms into a man. Herbert (who calls himself Gnome) emerges at night with a consciousness and identity which is almost entirely separate from Edie’s. At first Edie thinks of him as a brother, but gradually comes to understand that they are two parts of a whole person. This is a condition she’s inherited from her mother and grandmother who have very different opinions about this secret state of being. The novel follows the dual narratives of Edie and Gnome as they grapple over the years to share a body and navigate through society hiding the shocking reality of their situation. It’s a fascinatingly thoughtful, emotional and thrilling story that takes the reader through the emerging suffragette movement and underground queer meeting spots of turn of the century Manchester.

One of my favourite things about fiction is that it can take us entirely out of the bounds of reality in a way that can help us get a different perspective on ordinary life. So many of our ideas and conceptions about who we are and what makes a woman/man are ingrained in the way we think and live every day. This novel shows a recognizable “other” reality where there is a case of someone who inhabits both womanhood and manhood, but Edie feels terrified to reveal this secret for fear of being persecuted and ostracised. One of the ways Garland does this so powerfully is to show the internalized phobias within her family. Edie’s mother Cissy has the same condition of being both a woman and man. She unambiguously prefers her son Gnome to her daughter Edie. Nothing Edie does endears her to her mother leading her to feel “Of all the tasks I set myself, it was to make Ma love me. I have failed.” This relationship really hit home for me. As someone who came out as gay quite young, I painfully experienced this sense of failure and the feeling of being rejected simply for being who I am. My mother also encouraged me to publicly hide my homosexuality at school in order to avoid being shamed. Although this novel brought up many personal memories, the way in which Garland tenderly presents this complicated mother/daughter/son relationship touches upon so many universal feelings of acceptance/rejection between many different kinds of parents and children.

One of the beautiful ways in which Garland demonstrates how someone can find acceptance in the greater world if they can’t find it at home is by showing Edie’s discovery of the library. Edie takes numerous trips to the Manchester Free Library and comes to this independently-minded position: “So what if my life constrains me, tighter than the baskets in which hens are brought to market. This story has lifted me into the heaven of the imagination.” It’s very touching how Edie comes to appreciate novels and storytelling as both a way of escaping the drudgery of her present circumstances and of gaining better insight into her own identity. In the course of reading books and looking at paintings she sees a depiction of someone she identifies as a “Thracians” or someone who treads the border between being a man and woman. This is a moving way to root Edie’s condition in a hidden historical tradition which she has the potential to uncover. Although she feels alienated and alone, it’s possible that there are many other people who share her condition and similarly feel the need to publicly hide it. This kind of knowledge and shared history is the first step any persecuted minority group must take to group together to promote visibility and acceptance in society.

Naturally Edie/Gnome’s condition playfully probes questions of the meaning and nature of gender. Edie is subjected to the pervy attention of men at the pub her mother runs. This combined with the harsh way Cissy treats her makes Edie quite delicate and shy: “I grow into a swallowed voice of a girl. I speak when I am spoken to and often not even then.” However, Gnome’s evening wanderings draw him to other groups of boys where he develops a very competitive streak and he becomes boastful/arrogant with women he fancies. He feels that “In this life, you’re either a ginger tom swaggering the streets or a cowering kitten that gets trampled underfoot.” Garland demonstrates the way gender alters how a single individual is treated within society and consequently certain different behavioural traits emerge for Edie and Gnome. The story also shows how Edie learns to challenge and embrace change alongside the lesbian relationship she develops, but Gnome takes a reactionary stance and mocks the emergence of feminism. Edie’s unique position allows her to see beyond the constraints of gendered behaviour and she strives to be an individual who can embody aspects of femininity and masculinity: “Now that I have the choice, it strikes me that I don’t want to be the same, not in that way, which seems to be trading one shackle for another. I want liberation, not verisimilitude. The two are entirely different.”

“The Night Brother” feels like such a clever way of dramatically describing the changes in consciousness happening in society at the turn of the 20th century. Gradually liberation movements like the suffragettes were emerging to challenge traditional social constraints based on gender and sexuality. Since the character of Edie/Gnome is forced to live as both genders she/he becomes a kind of utopian vision of how we can exist on many different lines of the gender spectrum at once. At one point Edie’s grandmother says that “Nature is far more adventurous than we credit.” I admire the way that this novel shows that individuals are infinitely more complex than simply being any one thing that society would categorize them as. More than all the compelling ideas that this novel contains, it’s also an engrossing tale with lots of tense moments, revelations and a poignant love story.

Siblings Edie and Gnome delight in the streets of late nineteenth-century Manchester. They fight and argue as all siblings, but Edie can never resist Gnome’s outrageous schemes and always ends up climbing out of the bedroom window with him at night for adventures.

But as they get older and Gnome continues to revel in the night-time, Edie’s life is lived during the day. Gradually she forgets the brother she never sees as the demands of scraping a living become bigger. She wakes exhausted each morning with a sickening sense of unease and confusion.

But then she falls in love and Gnome reappears, jealous and wanting to destroy his sisters happiness.

Can they learn to live together in harmony?

This is an interesting novel and works on several different levels. The basics of it- writing, setting and character development Rosie Garland absolutely nails. To be honest I’ve never yet set foot in Manchester but I could feel the Edwardian version of the city around me all the way through. The characters are believable and face some very interesting challenges which they respond to in a way that feels natural.

But where things get really interesting is the actual story – there is more to Edie and Gnome than at first meets the eye and the novel explores gender and sexuality in an unusual way. There are a couple of places where it could have taken wrong turns and ended up exploiting those topics rather than exploring them. But each time it pushes towards the limits it pulls itself back, exposing naive opinions and then redressing them.

In the end it’s about more than girl versus boy and becomes a story about being honest with yourself. Every part of yourself. And of accepting the whole of others.

5 Bites

NB I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review. The BookEaters always write honest reviews.

This was one of those novels that in the earlier part of the story I could have given up on. I wasn't emotionally invested in any of the characters but my enjoyment of the time, the setting and the writing kept me reading. I'm not sure when it changed for me, possibly when Edie sees a statue at the museum or maybe when she stops to listen to a suffragette rally - both are life changing for her. When I finished the story I felt bereft - no more Edie and no more Gnome in my life each day!

So ... the story begins in Manchester in 1894 when Edie and Gnome are young children. Their mum, Cecily Margaret Latchford owns a beerhouse, The Comet. Edie tries everything to make her mum love her but when she realises she's failed she withdraws and doesn't stand up for herself. I despised Cecily for double standards and what she was willing to put Edie through. Gnome on other other hand is loved by their mum, he's not afraid of anything. He's a fighter. They're opposites. The worlds they inhabit are opposite. I must admit I loved spending time with Gnome on Manchester's streets. Rosie Garland's writing is so evocative making everything stand out in sharp detail. Things change when Edie moves away (The Comet always felt depressing to me!) and I loved her job, nightlife and the friends she made. Edie and Gnome's lives are fraught with misunderstandings, light and shadow, love and hate, fight and surrender.

Sexual and gender identity ... this story is a unique exploration of the masculine and feminine. From the Gospel of Thomas 22:

When you make the two one, and when you make the inside as the outside, and the outside as the inside, and the upper as the lower, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male is not male and the female not female, and when you make eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then shall you enter [the kingdom].

As I mentioned, there are times when I was pushed out of my comfort zone but those are the times that prompted me to think deeply and tangle me in emotions. I loved the knotty feeling, of not shying away but exploring the shadows and bringing it all together. The Night Brother won't be for everyone. You'll need to step outside of convention and what is acceptable to realise the whole. I loved it :)

A strange but highly enjoyable read. The time era is an awesome background with hints of transgender and homosexuality, woven into this highly intricate read. Both Gnome and Edie are different in their own right but also they mirror each other throughout the book. A really good read!

Edie Latchford is always battling another side of herself - her brother Gnome, who she transforms into every night. The two siblings share one body and as they grow older, their struggles for control become more vicious.

This was a very interesting book. It removed me a little bit of The Dead House except done way better. At first I enjoyed the POVs of both Edie and Gnome but gradually I definitely liked Edie more. Edie gets involved with the women's suffragette movement in Manchester in the early 1900s and I loved reading about the rallies she went to and what went on about them.

This is a really great exploration into being more than what you were physically born into. It looks at what it is to be male, to be female as well as what it means to be both and neither. I'd love to find out what any trans or non-binary readers made of this book as I feel they would have more personal connection to it than I did as a cisgender person, but I did really enjoy it. This also looks at sexuality and involves gay, lesbian and bisexual characters - as well as a look at how LGTB people were able to socialise during the 1900s without getting into trouble.

A fascinating read and some really strong writing. I really recommend!

An easy to read and vividly descriptive writing style that impacts from the book's start .

There are insightful perceptions about confidence in the context of an exciting childhood of an imaginary brother and sister. With early hints of  the supernatural in the storyline.

But is the story of the pub interesting? There are some good period-piece scene setting and narration that hold your interest, and keep you wondering where the story is going. but where the story is going is a good question.  The colourful & vivid writing has little plot at times as an example see the scene about the kid in the Punch & Judy show.

There are some interesting reflections of the very different views of similar situations; but here the writing is coarsely graphic rather than brightly / imaginatively descriptive.

And with the Edie chapter the story seems to drift into an argumentative soap opera; and it was hard to see where it was going,  if anywhere.

I lost interest at that point.

Edie and Gnome are brother and sister. Or are they?

It’s difficult to review The Night Brother without spoilers. Set in Manchester at the turn of the century from the 19th to the 20th, the suffragette movement is on the rise. Edie and Gnome become caught up in a new wave of free thinking pushed to its limit by their predicament. For, ultimately, the novel is about a radical rethinking of sex and gender. What does it mean to be a woman or a man?

Whilst I found the end of the novel somewhat polemical and potentially too neat, happiness too easily won, the journey through the characters lives is playful and compelling. The rippling shifts of flesh and gender are fascinating and with equal physicality we experience the violence of raids on gay bars and police brutality towards peaceful suffragette marches.

This is a novel that will undoubtedly spark debate. I don’t want to say too much more because that really would spoil the plot, but I’d be delighted to talk about this with anyone who has read the novel. It’s a fun and compelling read. I’d be interested to hear what people think about the portrayal of the brother too…

In the late nineteenth century two Manchester siblings, Edie and Gnome, bicker and scream their way through the city’s streets, embracing its charms and dangers. However, as they mature it is Gnome who revels in the night time while Edie is confined to the day. She wakes exhausted each morning, unable to quell a sickening sense of unease, and confused at living a half–life.

Exploring the furthest limits of sexual and gender fluidity, this story is about the importance of being honest with yourself.

A good book but difficult to describe. The story is well written and the characters likeable, but the overall book has something missing. Whether it is the way the author goes from dark places of the mind to the light places of childhood but it just doesn’t gel.

The book has 400 pages and does go through peaks and troughs. Sometimes you cannot read fast enough and at other times it is like wading through treacle. It is quite a heavy book to read and does get a little deep and dark and confusing. (I will not spoil it by telling you how).

The book is good but just not my most favourite and I struggle with the way the author has written the book as it is overly descriptive.

Helen

Breakaway reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

The Night Brother is a beautifully written slice of magic realism reminiscent of Orlando and The Night Circus. It dances along at a brisk pace and leads us into a dark and delightful underworld.

Siblings Gnome and Edie vie with each other over who will be top dog - first one winning, then the other. When things turn sour they hurt each other either physically or emotionally even though to do so is to hurt themselves.

Their mother and grandmother both have secrets to keep and questions to answer regarding the men missing from their lives. Their happiness or lack of it ccould give Edie and Gnome a clue as to how to conduct themselves, if only they could see it.

Toying with gender identity and fluidity, women's rights (and wrongs), and the nature of love and self-love, this book is both gripping and poetic.

To be published in numerous magazines in July: Two souls – one body. Nineteenth century Manchester is home to Edie by day, and Gnome by night. But as both start to resent the other’s presence, an internal war breaks out which threatens to tear them apart. Throw in suffragettes, love affairs and family dynamics, and you have a truly absorbing read. If you enjoyed Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, or anything by Angela Carter, this book is for you.

The Night Brother is a challenging book to rate. It is written with strikingly great skill and love, with language and character dialog authentic to the early 1900s. It has a fresh and original premise - 'siblings' who share one body and the troubles that ensue as a result of their struggle for dominance. And is a fascinating study of how to find compromise in difficult circumstances.

I don't see this a gender neutral story. I know that's the hot trend, at present, but it doesn't seem applicable here as each character - Edie and Gnome - are distinctly separate people, in all ways but physical, with different personalities and thought processes. Neither strives to be neutral. Edie is feminine, with womanly parts, dressing in skirts and acting with female decorum. Gnome is most certainly manly, with male attributes, clothing preferences, actions and ideas. Each of them wants to exist without the other which provides us with the rich tension of their dilemma.

I sussed what was to come pretty early on. In a thriller that would be a black mark - as I am keen to be surprised - but this novel doesn't play by those rules. I wasn't troubled knowing the outcome in advance and instead enjoyed the journey as Edie and Gnome fight their way to an existence that suits both of them.

As young children, siblings Edie and Gnome are inseparable, sneaking out of their bedroom at night to explore their home city of Manchester, but as they grow older their ways part. Edie is only seen during the day, when she tries her hardest to help her mother and grandmother around the public house they run, aiming to please but generally not succeeding. At night, Gnome comes out to play, or at least hang out in the streets with gangs of youths, often up to trouble. Although both mother and grandmother are well aware of what is happening, Edie herself is puzzled why she wakes each morning feeling like she's hardly slept, with tousled hair and dirt under her fingernails.

The Night Brother is an intriguing re-working of the Jekyll and Hyde story set against the backdrop of late 19th/early 20th century Manchester.
I loved the many historical elements of the book, and the atmospheric capturing of the feel of the city - the excitement of a childhood trip to see fireworks, the bustle of the streets. the defiance of the Suffragettes - but the concept at the heart of the story left me unconvinced.
I don't want to go into details as that would lead to a huge plot spoiler, but the lack of real explanation of this family 'curse' left me a bit frustrated. I'm sure I've read something with a similar gender-challenging idea in a sci-fi novel, possibly by Ursula le Guin, and whereas it's easy to explain it away in 'aliens', it's harder when dealing with people who are outwardly as normal as the next person. Maybe I'm looking at it all too literally, and expecting scientific explanations where there aren't any, maybe the story is more allegory that real, but it stopped me rating the book higher.

I'm not sure how I'd define this - historical fantasy maybe?

A lovely piece of historical fiction with a magical realism twist that put me in mind of Jekyll and Hyde a little.

A brother and sister growing up in Manchester in the late 1800s are mostly happy in each others company as children. Gnome is a mischievous, cheeky rascal who drags sister Edie along for the ride. But as the pair grow they want to find their own way in the world. Their relationship breaks down and things go from bad to worse.

Beautifully written, this is a fantastic, and at times heart wrenching story about love and sexual equality and identity.

Interesting ideas, perhaps too confined by the magic realism choice

Although this book certainly had an interesting idea behind it – the exploration of gender identity, sibling rivalry told via a soupcon of magic realism, a kind of alternative Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde all tacked on to a Manchester, early twentieth century rise of the suffragist movement – it did not really add up to more than the sum of its parts, for me. In fact, There is a nice vitality in Garland’s writing, and I can see why there have been comparisons made to Angela Carter and Sarah Waters – particularly Waters in her Victorian setting books. Unfortunately, for this reader the difference is that Carter and Waters consistently expanded and developed surprise and imagination in their books, but I found, initial twist and structure over, there were no surprises, and I knew exactly where the book was going
Which isn’t necessarily a problem – as long as the reader can find themselves under the skin of the characters so that you invest in their journeys. Not the case here, for me.

I was offered this as a review copy, via NetGalley, and was drawn to it by publisher comparisons between authors I had loved – Erin Morgenstern, as well as Carter and Waters.

The still outstanding book I read, years ago, on gender identity, remains Rose Tremain’s Sacred Country. No magic realism, just real realism, absolutely taking the reader into the heart of her central character’s journey. Issues now talked about more widely, then, barely, Tremain’s 1992 book is still gold

I would like to thank HarperCollins UK for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this book.

The Night Brother is a unique and unusual read and is unlike anything that I've read before. It's also a book that is hard to discuss without spoilers so this review will be rather brief and to the point.

At its heart, The Night Brother is a historical fiction novel but it also has a touch of magical realism and fantasy. It explores both gender identity and fluidity, and sibling rivalry. The plot was original and unique and the writing style appealing, but the overall concept wasn't clearly explained in the end.

I did enjoy it, the authors writing was engaging, it was a pleasure to read and it easily held my attention, but I am left with lots of questions. For example: Why was this happening to Edie and Gnome? Is it a curse placed on them and their family? Who placed it, when and for what reason? If it wasn't a curse then what was it? Was it medical? Psychological? There's was no clear explanation given. Had there been then this would probably have been a 4 star read for me but the lack of explanation knocks it down to 3 stars.

This is a book full of differences and yet similarities, a story Displaying the frailties oh human nature. All the way through the differences between Ma and Arthur, Gnome and Edie and the consistency of Grandmother bring the story to life. I loved the story depicting the various sides of people interspersed with the suffragette period in Manchester and wouldI recommend the book to other readers as it is does so well in describing pent up emotion and strong passions In such a beautiful way. I have to admit that as I read it I could not associate with the book description given , that is until the last chapter when Abigail clarifies the whole book in such a beautiful way. The truth and understanding are hidden from the reader throughout the book in such a strong way. I fell in love with Eddie but could not hate Gnome and the ending made me understand why. Rosie Garland was brave to take on this topic but has ended up giving a different view on our own sexuality and with this new understanding of such issues brings a tolerance of them. As the French would say "viva la difference"

The Night Brother

First off, great cover. Intriguing, different and it piqued my interest. At face value, this is a journey of sibling rivalry from childhood through to adulthood. The tale starts with Gnome and Edie, brother and sister, escaping their home to watch a firework display at Belle Vue in Manchester. There's a real sense of excitement and anticipation, and a strong sense of period drama as the pair blag their way into the venue. Edie is enthralled by her brother's trickery and there's a real sense of magic and awe bout the event.

So far so good, but as the story developed, it became increasingly embroiled in gender politics. There's ongoing debate around gender identification and gender fluidity and that's something to be encouraged. But I felt this book suddenly lost the plot. The allegory became confused with and presented as reality. For this journey to work best I believe it has to be one or the other. I was increasingly ill at ease with the direct links to genitalia and sexuality and FGM and instead of wanting to read more, I started to challenge, in my own mind, what was really going on.

So I'm left in a dilemma as to how much I enjoyed it overall. It's a book of contrasts and the writing is commanding. I haven't read other books by Rosie Garland. On the basis of the narrative alone, I'd probably not be encouraged to look for other works. But there's something very beguiling about the way she writes. It's vibrant, colourful and passionate. I'll err on the generous because I finished this provocative tale and such storytelling is gifted and to get encouraged.

My thanks to Harper Collins for an early review copy Via Netgalley.

Let me start with a confession. I'm a Rosie Garland fan. I knew her first as a poet and performer, and met her when she was working on her first novel. The Palace of Curiosities was a worthy winner of the 2012 Mslexia Novel Competition and as a Cooperative Society 'Loved by You' winner its reader-appeal is clear. Could her second full-length fiction live up to the expectations set by her debut? Any concern was misplaced; Vixen was totally different but every bit as absorbing. So when Netgalley offered the opportunity to read The Night Brother, I couldn't wait to open its beautiful cover.
Sometimes I thoroughly enjoy reading a book, but am left with a nagging feeling that I've read it - or another very close to it in style or plot - before. Every novel ever written owes something to stories that preceded it. And maybe there are echoes of Orlando or Jekyll and Hyde in The Night Brother. Maybe it is perfect, as the publisher suggests, for fans of Angela Carter, Sarah Waters, Erin Morgenstern. But this wonderful story is entirely its own narrative, and is uniquely 'Garland'.
The Night Brother manages to present authentic Victorian language and dialogue in a style which appeals to a modern readership. The setting - areas of Garland's home city of Manchester - is powerfully evoked without endless descriptive passages. Her characters are convincing and multifaceted - those you love are flawed, and those you find difficult have their redeeming features. And the plot is more than simply a love story. It is a challenging exploration of honesty and integrity.
Rosie Garland's writing has long been applauded by LGBT websites and magazines and has won a number of queer awards, but it would be a massive injustice if the quality of her writing wasn't recognised across the broader context of mainstream quality fiction. Just as Sarah' Waters' novels are widely regarded as excellent and enjoyable reads, so should Garland's. Gnome and Edie and Abigail are engaging characters, trying to find their way in early 20th century Manchester. They have a story to tell. All you have to do is listen and be enthralled.

Intriguing, mind boggling and full of angst, the Night Brother is a tale of gender fluidity, internal conflict and ultimately, love. I struggled a little with the concept at first but I thought the author's writing was superb and I was soon drawn in to the story.