A breathlessly written stream of consciousness novel charting the impact of love and HIV in nineties London.

This is one of those books that leaves a lasting and memorable impact.

The story of Johnny and how he is dealing with his continued grief decades after he lost his partner is moving and a testament to the impact people can have on our lives. It’s a truly gripping depiction of the queer community during the AIDS Crisis as well as a celebration of how a community continued to be creative and vibrant in the face of unimaginable loss and adversity.

The only thing that holds this novel back for me is the writing style. The story is delivered as Johnny’s inner monologue which can be effective however at times it almost felt like reading a persons brain dump. The excessive repetition felt like an attempt at poetic prose but ended up feeling grating to me.

It’s a mesmerising story that could have been told a bit better.

Beautiful but devastating. Johnny still lives in Nova Scotia House, 24 years after his lover, Jerry, died from AIDS. A block of flats is being built, that will cast its shadow over Jerry‘s beloved garden, leading Johnny to look back and reflect on their time together.

This is told in a stream of consciousness style, with a lack of punctuation in the printed word. This flow wasn‘t reflected in the audio, which was very staccato, almost list-like, which didn‘t work for me. (Loved the author‘s voice on audio - just not the delivery). I started with audio then switched to digital print halfway through, where the writing style was *much* more impactful and appropriate. Loved the end

This was a beautiful book of love, loss and grief in a society devastated by the AIDS epidemic

I didn’t like the writing style at first but I enjoyed it after reading further into the novel . So emotional and powerful, devastating and heartbreaking - actually loved it

Charlie Porter - amazing novel - thank you

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Press

So - this is a book I have had on my TBR pile and it was after I read a favourable review that I promoted it. Porter is dealing with a very sensitive, emotive topic in 'Nova Scotia House' which largely focuses on Jonathan and his relationship with Jerry, his partner, who is much older than him. Clearly, Jerry is dying from an AIDS-related illness and Jonathan is dealing with trauma through the first-person narrative of the book.

It is, obviously, a very sad thing for Jonathan to be managing, and given the epidemic of the 1980s (this is largely set in the early 1990s), he is surrounded by the deaths of loved ones, and Jerry is at the core of this. The book reads like a stream of consciousness - and even though I get this is probably a representation of his state of mind, for me this style of writing jars. To add to this, I find the repetition irritating - yes, okay, perhaps it is how Jonathan would have been feeling, therefore accurately conveying his thoughts, but for a reader it leaves one feeling discombobulated.

There is a large sense of things being anonymous in the book, such as the city where Nova Scotia House is located (possibly London?), and the area Jonathan moves to with Gareth and Megan, and perhaps this is a deliberate choice of the writer. I do like the way the novel's denouement hints at more to come for Jonathan - he certainly deserves good things.

I am not sure how to respond more positively to this book. I can appreciate the way the writer is depicting such an awful event in our history - and how this affects one person in particular - but it leaves me cold in other ways.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Nova Scotia House is a poignant tribute to queer love and loss.

Charlie Porter's debut novel, Nova Scotia House, is a deeply moving exploration of love, grief, and the resilience of queer life during and after the AIDS crisis. Set in London, the story follows Johnny Grant, a 19-year-old who falls in love with Jerry Field, a 45-year-old HIV-positive man. Their relationship unfolds against the backdrop of the 1990s AIDS epidemic, a time when the virus was still untreatable. Jerry's death in 1995 leaves Johnny to navigate a world forever changed by loss.​

The titular Nova Scotia House is not just a setting but a character in itself. Inspired by Modernist architects like Berthold Lubetkin and Horace Gifford, the building reflects a philosophy of exceptional social housing and queer-specific spaces. Porter imagines it as a sanctuary where Johnny and Jerry build their life together, a place that becomes increasingly threatened by the encroaching forces of gentrification and societal change. ​

Porter's prose is characterized by its stream-of-consciousness style, employing a relentless use of commas and a staccato rhythm that mirrors the emotional intensity of the era. This narrative technique immerses readers in Johnny's experiences, capturing the urgency and rawness of his memories. The novel delves into themes of grief, memory, and the longing for a lost community, offering a poignant reflection on the impact of the AIDS crisis on queer lives. ​

If you're interested in a literary work that delves into the intricacies of queer love, loss, and the resilience of community, Nova Scotia House offers a compelling and thought-provoking experience.

I really thought I would love this book but after several attempts, it’s just not for me. The content probably is, but unfortunately I can’t get on with the stream-of-consciousness narrative. I found it difficult and distracting. I would like it known my rating reflects only my thoughts on the style of this novel and not its content.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

The timeline of this hugely compassionate novel veers between the present day and some point in the early or mid '90s as far as I could tell, and in doing so it charts a potted history of gay life in London during that time. It gives a snapshot of the ostracism of the 1980s, especially after HIV/AIDS erupted on the scene; of marginalised gay communities on the fringes and under the radar of society, living in abandoned warehouses in what is now the luxury of London's Docklands and caring about each other because nobody else did.

The protagonists are Johnny and Jerry, who meet each other when the much older Jerry is already HIV positive. Johnny is only 19, Jerry is in his 40s, but theirs is true love. Johnny moves into Jerry's run down council flat and is tutored by Jerry in living independently, sustainably, kindly. Jerry is a forerunner of today's environmentally conscious philosophy and he puts it into practice wholeheartedly, growing vegetables in his garden, reusing whatever he can. After Jerry dies (a truly harrowing description of dying of AIDS a few months before antiretrovirals became available), Johnny carries on living according to his philosophy, until the present day when creeping gentrification means the old council block is being surrounded by luxury developments, the light will be blocked from Jerry's garden, and Johnny must finally find his own feet.

What struck me most about this book was the kindness that suffuses it. There is no rose-tinted romanticisation of the hedonistic, promiscuous queer lifestyle, but the sense of community, acceptance, support is huge. And the fun - even in spite of the fear of infection, the fun goes on. Perhaps with more of an edge. This is true communal spirit, with no pretence, no hidden agendas - a hippy philosophy and way of life in the best sense. Recommended.

Tender, emotional and utterly gorgeous - this book was beautifully written and filled with so much heart and tragedy. Love shone through each page, through the characters' found family and relationships, like a beacon of hope amidst all of the devastation of the AIDS crisis and the lives that were changed irrevocably because of the impact of this disease.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

This was just beautiful. So well written, but in a completely edgy, different way, that was hard to grasp at the beginning but made it more poetic as you continued through. Breathtaking.

Thanks to Charlie Porter and NetGalley for this review copy!!

Absolutely beautiful. This book was so gorgeously tender, honest and absolutely heartbreaking all at once. I love books that use stream of consciousness style writing to show traumatic experiences and the dissonance of experiencing things differently afterwards. It reminded me a lot of Little Scratch by Rebecca Watson, though Porter definitely takes his narrative and places it in a part of history that is still so often underrepresented.

The stream-of-consciousness narration has a hypnotic flow that blurs the present into memory. It suits the book, and is undoubtedly well-written, but I did find it hard to read (there was a soporific quality to the unceasing rhythm). The characterisation is rich and layered, and the memory sequences were evocative and emotional... but I did find they rather overrode the present-day narrative.

Overall, there was a lot to like, but I found the style hard to engage with.

I found the writing style quite difficult, and the content was not really my thing. I persevered and while I couldn't warm to the characters, I could feel the loneliness and devastation they felt.

I really loved this memorable book that left me in little pieces blubbing on occasion. It’s the story of Johnny and the love of his life Jerry who he meets when he is very young. At the time Johnny and Jerry meet Johnny is 19 and Jerry much older at 45. Johnny is just starting out on his life and coming to terms with his gayness and his immediately drawn to the security of life with Jerry who lives in the ground floor flat in Nova Scotia house in a council estate in London where he tends his garden and his wide range of close friendships.
We meet Johnny again when he is in his 40s and he tells us of the story how he lost Jerry the love of his life so seen after meeting him
The scenes where Jerry was dying of HIV were heartbreaking.
This is a book with a no holds barred approach to living and dying which was very much present in this novel. The sex scenes for example left nothing to the imagination but were often tender and beautiful.
I love the idea of “queer magic” which was the way the older main character Jerry described the way him and his contemporaries live their lives with joy and positivity

The author has a very distinctive writing style snappy easy to read stream of consciousness like
The characters are described perfectly and really feel three dimensional and whole
This is a very memorable book that it will stay with me for a long time.

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for an unbiased review. The book was published in the UK on the 20th of March 2025 by penguin press UK.
This review will appear on Meg UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads and my book blog bionicsarahbooks.wordpress.com

After the publication will also appear on Amazon UK

The way Porter explores grief was so raw and (of course) personal.
However, the contrast between these moments and the historical of the queer movement felt so drastic for my brain.
These comments are important to be mentioned, especially in queer fiction books. Here they were kind of formal and "emotion-less" compared to the rest of the story.
With that being said, I can't take away that the love story is well told.


thank you net galley for the copy

Unfortunately I DNF this book at 29%, the style of writing with the long run on sentences and stream of consciousness made it hard for me to get into and I still felt like I didn’t really understand the character by this point or feel like I was interested enough to find it what happened other than what had already been briefly mentioned.

I was expecting more with this one and was let down. Whilst it was interesting, I felt myself just waiting for the end.

I was sent a copy of Nova Scotia House by Charlie Porter to read and review by NetGalley. I’m afraid I really couldn’t get on with this novel at all and didn’t finish it. I didn’t like the writing, it being a rather frantic stream of consciousness, although I did try and persevere for as long as I could. The thing that finished it for me was one too many explicit sex scenes, whether that makes me a prude or not, I just felt that I couldn’t cope with it however much it was ‘groundbreaking’ or ‘genius’. Life is too short to read books that you are not enjoying. Good luck to the author, I’m sure he will go far considering the amount of praise bestowed on this book already, it just wasn’t for me.

This is a beautifully written, unflinching examination of love, loss and coming home.

This novel is written in a stream of consciousness style, which I don't normally get on with, but the poetic prose is vivid and powerful and I was immediately drawn in and swept away by it's raw beauty.

This is an incredibly moving story about grief and what it means to be loved. It's honest approach is refreshing and touching. The descriptions of place and architecture mirror the protagonist's interior life beautifully as he experiences the desolation of grief and loneliness towards healing and becoming seen again.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Nova Scotia House, follows Johnny's life as a young man during the 90's at the end of his partner Jerry's life, and also his life in the present day as he reaches the age that Jerry was when he passed. In many ways I found this a difficult book , an almost rare dnf for me.I did carry on as knowing a little about the AIDS crisis and how abysmally the queer community was treated; it's a story that needs told frequently. The writing style was both difficult to follow whilst feeling deeply personal. It felt like Johnny/the author was simply emptying the thoughts in their head on the page. I always struggle to deal with relationships where one partner is significantly older than the other, particularly when the younger party is a teen, as it feels like the older partner is exploiting the younger. This was emphasised by fact Johnny was clearly still struggling decades later. There was also a particularly graphic sex scene that did almost make me give up about the 60% mark. I did find myself reading more just to try and get out of Johnny and Jerry's world quicker. Having said that there is a slight glimmer of hope at the end of the book so I'm glad I stuck with it.