Thomas Lyster

**From LibraryThing:** Californian Neil Fielding, is an undergraduate at Cambridge, he already has a degree in English from Berkeley. He has come to England firstly to escape the turmoil in Berkeley, even though it meant leaving behind his girlfriend Susan. Neil is an unassuming young man, sensitive but open minded, but sexually perhaps a little naïve, certainly he is a virgin. Thomas Lyster is his roommate at Cambridge, and Neil soon realises that Thomas is in class of his own, good looks, extrovert, charming and popular, even admired and held in awe by some; yet they do not get off to the best start. But they live together amiably enough until Neil invites Thomas to lunch to join him in celebrating Thanksgiving; and that marks a turning point in their relationship. Neil is soon fully absorbed into Thomas’s life, but while Thomas seems able to get any girl he wants, Neil, despite his clumsy attempts, remains a virgin. There are hints though that Thomas may not only be interested in girls, and then over one holiday when Thomas invites Neil to stay at his family’s country home, Thomas seduces him. Once over the initial shock they embark on an affair, but it soon all falls apart, and Neil tries to resume his interest in girls, including Susan. But can he make it work, and what are his true inclinations; is his future with his old girlfriend Susan, or will he ever get back with Thomas? And can he believe Thomas when he claims he only truly loves him. Set in the late 1960s early 1970s, it provides a picture of traditional student life of the time at prestigious Cambridge, it makes slight reference to the student troubles of the time in the US and Paris (but strangely no reference to the same in England), and there is political interest as Thomas and some of his circle take an active interest in politics, but the real thrust of the story is Neil’s love interest and his growing sexual awareness and affair with Thomas. Neil is the narrator, and the story is primarily dialogue driven. Neil and Thomas are likeable individuals and very different from each other, and they are supported by a diverse cast of interesting characters; it is an absorbing and positive tale, funny at times and well worth reading.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, LGBTQ+. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.