This book is a testament to Hollinghurst ability to create an immense, absorbing and epic tale about race, class and sex. The story is crafted with Hollinghurst’s immaculate prose style which draws you into the world of the protagonist Dave Win. He relates key episodes from his life from the 1960’s to the pandemic. His struggles at school, and with race and sex, emerge from often funny and sentimental snippets of events that all seamlessly combine into a perfectly fluid story. The most moving and tender part is the relationship between Dave and his mother. This is the engaging story of one individual’s life by one of the greatest writers of our times. No need to dissect it, take it as a whole and enjoy the pleasure of first class storytelling.

At its beginning, Our Evenings has a tension unlike anything I’ve read before — romantic, racial, and age-awkwardness. It is the natural parent of Call My by Your Name and Normal People; literary and ultimately accessible. It oozes such an elegant class, never anything less than in the plot’s intellectual unfurling. The questions that it asks about Britain — its people, politics, classes, and culture — show how little we learn, while highlighting the limitations of our growth. But throughout it all, there is such a sly, subtle and, at times, touching humour that gives this excellent novel its heart. Sublime, touched by genius, truly a book to hold dear.

ALAN HOLLINGHURST – OUR EVENINGS ***** What a remarkable book. Without doubt one of my favourite books of the year. Alan Hollinghurst is one of our greats. A new novel by him is something to be celebrated by anyone who loves to read brilliant prose – it is a masterclass in how to write. This concerns a ‘brown’ half English young actor Dave Win, at school with an obnoxious bully Giles who becomes a politician and his charming father Mark Hadlow who dies at the beginning of the story. The novel is told first person by Dave, an account of his life and loves, someone who knows music and Shakespeare and who chronicles the changing patterns of English life. I really don’t want to say more than this of what happens. Spanning decades from youth to old age this is a remarkable feat, told with wit and compassion and anger and brilliant prose. Can’t recommend it enough.

With a body of work any writer would die for, a new Alan Hollinghurst novel is worth the long seven-year wait. He is, without doubt, the finest writer in the English language, bar none. I make no apologies for saying that; he has long been my favourite author. 'Our Evenings' is a quietly subtle 'state of the nation' book. Following the life of David Win, half-Burmese, half-English, 100% gay, it starts with a nod to 'Brideshead Revisited' and we see David's childhood friendship with Giles Hudson, the son of the man who funded David's scholarship to a posh school. As David grows up and enters the theatre world, the novel explores his relationships, both with his mother and with the various men in his life. And all the while, in the background, the story of Britain (well, England) plays itself out, Racism, sexuality and class underpin many of the events in David's life, and we culminate, of course, with Brexit and the smug victory of none other than Giles Hudson. But above all, this is a personal book, a story of a life well lived, of the memories we share with others, and those precious moments, our evenings with the ones we love. And all of this is written in prose that just makes you appreciate the English language. Like no other writer, Alan Hollinghurst can write sentences that remove the reader to the realm of wonder. He is a genius, and this novel confirms his place as our greatest writer. Whether it wins awards and prizes, who knows? It doesn't actually matter. What we have here is the best book of the year, without doubt. Possibly the best book of the last several years. It is a thing of beauty, and anyone who cares about the state of contemporary fiction must read it.

A deep and thoughtful drama of the complexities of life, which made me think and feel rather sad in places. Good - but definitely the sort of tale that needs to be an occasional read, otherwise I would find it too depressing.