In his compact yet powerful debut novel, Allan Radcliffe draws a tender portrait of a young man grieving his parents and the relationship he did and didn’t have with them. While a background in journalism may have installed a joy of ruthless editing in the author, The Old Haunts’ concise nature isn’t due to a desire to pare back. Instead, Radcliffe began with a fairytale-inspired motif, not unlike the one now gracing the book’s cover, which quickly grew arms and legs.

‘I was interested in the common theme of children falling back on their own resources and learning to survive without their parents, with a promise of recovery and redemption,’ explains Radcliffe. And so, we join Jamie, recently bereaved and journeying in the Highlands to come to terms with his role in the world as a son (and now orphan), accompanied by new boyfriend, Alex. 

Jamie’s relationship with his parents was multi-faceted and further complicated by the pressure to hide his sexuality, having grown up during the Section 28 era. ‘You can’t underestimate how much of an impact it had on young people’s lives at the time, how few cultural reference points existed and just how homophobic press coverage and attitudes were,’ says Radcliffe.

Jamie has almost no role models, no language to describe his own experiences. ‘At 15, I was made of secrets,’ Jamie says, suggesting a mixture of guilt and resentment. But what teenager isn’t quietly fermenting in the dark, unsure which parts of themselves can be revealed to their parents and the world at large? His escape to college is the chance to ‘shuck off his disguised life and unleash his secret identity.’

The expansion of Jamie’s world view can’t help but distance him from his parents, though, and Radcliffe explores the fracturing of this intense parental bond. ‘I wanted to show how other factors start to creep into life and drive a wedge between the way parents and children relate. In London, Jamie changes, but his parents have changed in his eyes too. They’ve grown vulnerable.’ 

Jamie’s quest is to resolve and embrace love in all its imperfections, and the burgeoning relationship between himself and Alex offers a thread of tenderness and reclamation. ‘While I don’t necessarily feel a pressure to write a happy ending, it was really important to me to write warmly about queer love,’ says Radcliffe. One of this book’s most bittersweet lessons is the realisation that not all happy endings can be shared with the people we care about most.

The Old Haunts is out now, published by Fairlight Books.