Twenty Years Together by Tom Rob Smith

Tom Rob Smith's latest offering, Twenty Years Together, is a significant departure from his espionage novels. This beautifully told story of an approaching marriage asks why get married and what that means.

This story is also a look at how same sex couples have been treated historically and the effect of having one's personal relationship considered to be shameful.

Set in London in 2012, the novel follows Danny, a nurse and hopeless romantic, as he questions whether his relationship with Luis is given the same respect as those of their friends. He suspects this stems from the secrecy that often surrounded same-sex relationships when they first got together twenty years earlier. But times are changing, civil partnerships are now available in England, and same-sex marriage is legal in Luis’s home country, Spain. Danny hopes marriage will affirm and strengthen their bond. Luis reluctantly accepts his proposal, and at first, he seems to be the one behaving foolishly. Yet it soon becomes clear that the calm, reserved Luis carries his own insecurities, along with a past he has been trying to escape and must finally confront.

It is, in the end, a masterful story and tender portrait of two people in love trying to navigate the changing times and ensuring their love for one another is not compromised by seeking a legal unification.

Reviewer: Chris Casey

Simon and Schuster