‘Street Sweeper’ is a powerful novel that will linger due to its brilliantly formed characters and exquisite storyline. This is the author’s debut book, and it is very impressive. I was truly there with Roland and Almir.

There are some novels and stories that touch your soul, and this is one of them. ‘Street Sweeper’ is a complex but simple tale of two people who meet and fall in love. Almir and Roland are both people you want to root for instantly, and there will be plenty of times where I will wonder what is happening to them now. When you linger with characters, even after finishing the book, it means the author has done an amazing job. Almir is a Balkan immigrant who has just recently moved to London. Roland has just separated from his wife, his mother has died, and for the first time, he is living openly as a gay man.

Almir has an old soul. For someone so young, he has been through a horrible and traumatic time during the Balkan war. He has made the brave choice to move forward with his life, but he needs time to recover. The flashbacks to his time in the war, with his friend Muzzafer, are both tender but soul-destroying. However, it isn’t paraded across the page as some grandiose narrative thread. It is slightly matter-of-fact. This happened. There is trauma, but there is no in-depth explanation of the war.

Roland is just as isolated as Almir but for different reasons. He hid his true identity for so long. His ex, Shirl, has a right to be angry, and his son, Gary, is just trying to make sense of everything.

I was enthralled with this book and devoured it within a day. It is not a fast-paced romance but more a steady examination of how two people meet and have a complicated love. I was hooked!

Let me know if you pick this one up!