Alec

A Novel

By: William di Canzio

Narrated by: John Sackville

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Sackville imbues this character-driven historical drama with warmth, comfort, and a sense of optimism, especially during the story's darkest moments." —AudioFile Magazine

William di Canzio’s Alec, inspired by Maurice, E. M. Forster’s secret novel of a happy same-sex love affair, tells the story of Alec Scudder, the gamekeeper Maurice Hall falls in love with in Forster’s classic, published only after the author's death.

Di Canzio follows their story past the end of Maurice to the front lines of battle in World War I and beyond. Forster, who tried to write an epilogue about the future of his characters, was stymied by the radical change that the Great War brought to their world. With the hindsight of a century, di Canzio imagines a future for them and a past for Alec—a young villager possessed of remarkable passion and self-knowledge.

Alec continues Forster’s project of telling stories that are part of “a great unrecorded history.” Di Canzio’s debut novel is a love story of epic proportions, at once classic and boldly new.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

©2021 William di Canzio (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Wonderful continuation of Maurice

This novel gives a greater and broader vision into the lives and loves of Maurice and Alec. Sensual and sexual while expressing the true love these two felt for one another and the great amount of courage it took to be true to that during the early 20th century. It reminds me of how similar I am to these men while inhabiting a very changed world. Lovely narration.

A brilliant twin to “Maurice”

The writer captures the imagination with brilliant writing of all aspects of the story. Background, action, inner dialogue, and sex. Finally, someone who can write a sex scene that is actually worth reading and is a necessary and seamless part of the story.

Snuggle up for a nice ride.

Marvelous continuation of Maurice

This novel is a wonderful continuation of the E.M. Forster original. The writing seems to belong to the same narrative. I was very pleased. Highly recommended.

Stunning

‘Alec’ is a beautiful story, exquisitely written, and narrated and performed with great care and finesse. I highly recommend it.

a dang good book

thus book is so good! I had read EM Forster's MAURICE prior to reading this. And it was such a beautiful, poignant experience. highly recommended

SHATTERING

William di Canzio has taken a good book and expanded it into a masterpiece. Alec is romantic, transgressive in the best sense of the word, emotionally shattering and movingly narrated.

Beautiful novel

I absolutely loved it. I cried, I laughed, and lived with the heroes. Can’t imagine a better sequel to the original story.

Beautifully written and well performed.

I thought it was beautifully written. Well paced, not over sentimental and easy, descriptive turns of phrases. Sometimes I would just stop and marvel at the visual scene he paints with just a few words. The story was sweet, realistic for the time of the heartbreak and struggles of queer people. There will always be obstacles and many queers did and will not survive. Nice to see some who are strong and navigate the world the best possible way, without the ultimate tragedy.

Bravo

I’ve adored Forster’s Maurice for many years, and I was delighted to discover that di Canzio had written a novel to succeed Forster’s original. It is a creative imagining of Alec and Maurice’s future, and I wish the story kept going. Overall, the story was a treat, the audio performance was great, and I look forward to more works by di Canzio.

A worthy companion to Maurice

Thoroughly enjoyed this. By turns romantic, sensual and brutal, and enhanced by a brilliant performance from the narrator. Only criticism is it could have been longer.

Sensitive continuation of EM Forster's novel

Sympathetic characters, faithful to Forster's Maurice, great homage. Engaging and believable narration brings it alive.

With Pride

William di Canzio, stand with Pride alongside E.M.Forster. A masterpiece my hearts delight but also a mental challenge .
A timely reminder that we must always strive to live better lives honouring those who trod this way before us.
Superbly narrated by John Sackville.

A perfect sequel to an enchanting masterpiece…

It may sound like hyperbole, but I genuinely found this novel to be beautiful, romantic, profoundly sad and thrillingly hopeful. The gay experience has all but been erased from great literature. In those dark days we were sinners, monsters or something to laugh at. Like Maurice before it, Alec seeks to right these wrongs. And it does so with aplomb.

Didn't do for me

I enjoyed it as long as it followed Forster's line of a story, but it changed when di Canzio's imagination of what supposedly happened after took a lead. To me personally it was lacking in true imagination. It's not that things didn't happen anymore, quite the opposite. Too much had happened and I found myself strangly detached from it most of the time. With baroness and lots of war and nude queers and brothel and so on and so forth... I had found myself hardly believing any of it. Less is more! I most likely will stick with the ending of Forster's Maurice. It was fine enough for me!