Review: A Faint Wash of Lavender by Lucius Parhelion

Having enjoyed the last TQ colour box story from this author, Silver Lining (reviewed here), I grabbed at the chance to review another of Parhelion’s historicals. This time the focus is on the 1940s and is set in the artistic and bohemian Californian town of Laguna Beach.

Having served his country in the second world war, Tony has come home to run his uncle’s grocery store. The town of Laguna Beach is full of eccentric, liberal people and as a gay man, Tony feels comfortable surrounded by like minded men and those of a more accepting mind. As the story begins Tony’s friend from the war, Ben, is coming to stay for a while. Tony is a little worried about what Ben may think of some of the men that he knows, especially as some are more “lavender” than others. Within a couple of hours of arriving in the town Ben, along with Tony, has been roped into the town’s famous art pageant which leads to some surprising discoveries about the true nature of Ben’s feelings for Tony.

What struck me in particular about this story is that, although Tony and Ben’s relationship is important in the story, the main focus is the town of Laguna Beach and its eclectic bunch of residents. Therefore, through Tony’s rather fond eyes, we see his aunt, her ‘gentleman friends’, the members of the pageant committee and some of the men who have a ‘whiff of lavender’ about them. This all combined, along with a strong sense of period history to immerse me in the story as I was drawn into Tony’s life. As should be the case, Tony was very careful about his homosexuality and was nervous at all times that he didn’t come across as ‘lavender’, especially during the war and to Ben who up until recently was going to be a missionary. He was also nervous about introducing Ben to some of his friends in the town in case it was obvious, as it is to him, that many of these men are gay and I found Tony’s embarrassment and discomfort about the way that some of the gay men, especially his friend Joey, behave, quite amusing.

The story has a lightness of tone to it that I enjoyed a great deal, just as I liked Tony. Ben was a little more difficult to understand as we see him only through the eyes of Tony, but what I did find out about him made him into sympathetic character. The pacing was a little slow, in keeping with the sleepiness of the Californian town, I suppose, but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment too much as I was having too much fun with the secondary characters and watching Tony fight his attraction to Ben.

Another of the things I enjoyed about the book was the use of some of the euphemisms for being gay. I found the use of words and phrases such as ‘lavender’ and ‘allowing someone to buy them ginger ale’, on one hand quite delightful, but also showed how dangerous it was to be more explicit about homosexuality during the 1940s and it helped ground the story within the time period.

Overall, if you like historical short stories, you can’t go wrong with A Faint Wash of Lavender. It’s a story with great characters and a firm sense of time and setting. Recommended with a grade of 'Very Good'.