The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle should be the blueprint novel for all those wishing to write a book about queer joy authentically, without erasing the traumatic history the queer community has faced. Following a 65 year old gay recluse, this novel tells the story of second chances, healing from trauma, and discovering a new life at an old age. I loved watching the main character follow his journey back into a world more accepting than he grew up in, and would highly recommend.

The most important aspect of this novel, to me, is the way the author seamlessly wrote about the vitriolic homophobia gay men received in 1900's Britain and beyond while basing the story around queer joy and discovery. Albert rediscovering a new world which is kinder to the queer community than the one he grew up in, and gaining stronger relationships with those who celebrate his queerness was so endearing to read about, and made the book feel like a warm hug. In a world where we've lost so many queer elders to the AIDs pandemic, stories like this one are very underrepresented.

The book doesn't shy away from discussing racial inequality as well as homophobia, though I wouldn't say its as much of a /huge/ part of the novel as it is passing comments. As a white reviewer, I won't comment on how well I thought the representation was done for various minority groups as I lack that perspective, but wanted to note that it is in there!

My only complaint with the novel is the pacing; it's usually very good, but the beginning starts off a bit slow. There's a particular chapter or two near the 20% mark that I think could've just bee taken out altogether, and would not change the story at all. For the most part, however, the pacing is pretty good and makes sense--I just worry some will put the book down early in the novel due to this drag. 4.5 stars :)

This gets the full slate of stars from me for its handling of one basic message: you are never too old to start something new; you are never too old to make new choices in how you live your life. This may seem a ubiquitous message but being now in my mid-50s, I’ve found that it seems less and less of that messaging is directed to my generation and those older than me. The strength of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is that the book unpacks everything that goes along with making a wholesale change of perspective, brand new choices, late in life – at the age of retirement in Albert’s case.

The story starts with Albert realizing that he even wants and needs to make a change. He’s comfortable and content in his life and life choices. However, those choices made through the years, and the associated comfort, come from decisions made when he was considerably younger. Those decisions have not been re-examined for decades. Doing so is decidedly uncomfortable and downright scary for Albert. He looks around and feels that perhaps most of his peers dealt with all this internal muck when they were considerably younger. The fundamental internal struggle is accompanied by practical, external challenges-new technology must be learned and embraced for example. Through the story, Albert learns he must be persistent in pushing away the siren’s song of how comfortable it would be to revert to the choices and life he lived for 50 years. He must resist his habitual way of thinking and doing things. It takes a book to explore that type of growth, that experience of “you’re never too old to start something new”. That phrase fits nicely on a poster; it’s a good inspirational quote. But it’s only a single thought initiating a process that will take a lot of work, sometimes work at which one will fail.

So five stars to the author for the character of Albert Entwistle. The curmudgeonly side of me has a couple observations of the book as well. It’s a bit too cozy for my taste. A bit too warm and treacle-y in that Hallmark holiday move/after school special way. Sometimes the character of Albert came across as a sleeping beauty – frozen in time 50 years ago as if he were not even an observer of the changes in society during his lifetime, as if he hadn’t witnessed or absorbed any of it. It became a little hard to swallow at points. I would also say his relationship with his mother was emotionally abusive-a topic that Cain doesn’t ever directly address.

Would gladly recommend this book to others. Thank you to the author and #NetGalley for the electronic ARC.

I absolutely adored this book! It was emotional, heart-wrenching at time and a lovely view of gay life in England, especially for older people. I loved all the characters, and especially adored Nicole and Albert's friendship. The two were a fantastic duo and I'd love to read more about Nicole and Reenie in the future. I see this becoming a huge hit, similar to Under the Whispering Door/The House on the Cerulean Sea. Can't wait to see what Matt Cain writes next!

Thank you, Kensington Books, for allowing me to read The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle early!

I simply adored this book. I loved reading about a queer elderly protagonist. I treasured each word and the whole story. I yearned for every coming chapter while holding my breath. I'll surely look for another beguiling gem like this one in Matt Cain's bibliography.

Although several parts of this felt awkward and dated, particularly the non-white characters, but it’s still a very sweet, heartwarming story. The world’s changed so much in the last fifty years and there’s countless people out there with stories of people like Albert. It was nice to read one for once!

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

When Albert Entwistle finds out he faces mandatory retirement from his post office job on his 65th birthday, little does he know that this will set into motion a complete changeover of his life. He had always been a quiet, introverted, man, but he finds new life, new friends, and a passion to become his real self as he faces a new chapter in his life. With help from some of his new friends, he sets out on a quest to find the long, lost love from his earlier years.

This was quite a story as we followed Albert on his quest, and saw how he came to grips with his own identity, his age, and his past.

A coming of age for an aged man.

When Albert was a teen it wasn't safe to be gay in his country, community or home. This resulted in the end of a secret relationship in an effort to save his boyfriend from Albert's police officer father.

Now 50 years later Albert is facing forced retirement and realizing he needs a change in his life after holding everyone at arms length all these years. He sets out to find his boyfriend from all those years ago and ends up finding an entire community of loved ones along the way.

While Albert and his story are the star of the story, we also get to know Nicole, a young single mother, who becomes a great friend to Albert while she is pursuing her dreams.

Have your tissues ready, you'll need them.

This book drew me in from the very beginning and never let go. It's a beautifully written story of lost love and acceptance. Albert Entwistle is a postman in a rural town in England. He prefers to keep to himself because he's afraid people will not like him if they knew his true self. When given the news that he is being forced into retirement at the age of 65, Albert worries that his loneliness will be insufferable once he is leaves his job. He decides to try to find his lost love, George.

Albert and George were teenagers when they fell in love. It was illegal to be a homosexual at that time, and after one fateful night, their relationship comes to a heartbreaking end. When Albert decides to find George, he enlists the help of Nicole, a young single mother on his postal route. Along the way, Albert comes out to his coworkers and makes new friends who assist him in his search. By the time Albert is ready to face his lost love, he has built a nice community around himself. He now knows what it's like to be part of community; to feel loved and cared for by friends and acquaintances.

There are many characters in this book who are part of Albert's journey of self-discovery. They are all fully fleshed-out characters that overcome their own obstacles along the way. I was immersed in the story and the characters. I found the history of of what gay people endured during the 1950s through 1980s sad and distressing. Albert is surprised by how accepting people are now and knows his bravery in coming out as gay is nothing compared to what gay activists went through in the preceding years in order to gain acceptance.

I recommend this fantastic novel to all readers, including book clubs. Thank you to Kensington Books for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"It's never too late to start your life's big adventure"

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is an absolutely beautiful and moving book. Told in dual-POV, this book tells the story of Albert Entwistle, a nearly 65 year old postman, stilling living in his childhood home, who tries desperately to make himself invisible and small in the world to hide the secret that he's gay after a very traumatic incident avoiding a man he loved as a teen. We also see the story of Nichole, a 19 year old single Black mother who is trying to make a family with her boyfriend while they're both in school. When Albert finds out that he's being forced into retirement, he begins to think about his past and his future.

I cannot express enough just how beautiful and touching this book was. It is unfortunately rare to hear the story of a queer elder, because so many of them were lost. That makes it all the more important to hear a story of a man who lived through the terror of the seventies and did make it out alive. Albert's story promises that it does get better, and it is never too late to truly start living and to let life in.

Although the search for Albert's lost love is a major plot point to this story, this story is not just about romance. It is about hope, pride, community, coming out, and learning to live rather than just survive. Albert has spent his entire life hiding and trying to be invisible, but when he finally shows people who he truly is, he finds acceptance and love waiting to welcome him with open arms. This books features a cast of multi-faceted, dynamic side characters, all of whom you just want to root for.

This book was quite emotional, but it was also joyful, fulfilling, and very cozy. The writing was beautiful and truly put me in the moment, and by the end of it I was teary-eyed with joy and pride, for Albert and the community, along with the many men who had come before him. I truly recommend this book.

Starts off slow but is a very adorable romance. Perfect for fans of T.J. Kune and anyone who believes in living life to your full potential as your authentic self! Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle tells the story of a 64-year-old closeted post man, who has lived a mostly miserable existence since he broke up with his first love as. teenager. This book felt like a warm hug. You don’t see a lot of older protagonists in contemporary fiction, and definitely not ones who happen to be LGBT.
This is a warm, (eventually) feel-good novel that has you aching to hug the main character. Very very very sweet.

This book is an emotional journey that hit a bit too close to home for me at times. The first third made me so sad I was sobbing but the good news is that's when the turning point comes and it's a more positive and uplifting story from there. That being said, I thought the book was a fabulous examination of character. Albert has lived a lonely, closed off life due to traumatic moments in his past and fear. Terribly shy and anxious, it's only when his one source of human interaction is about to be severed by retirement that Albert finds the impetuous to change. Watching him open up and find friends is touching and joyful, especially his unlikely friendship with Nicole. He's a shy, aging gay man and she's a shy, young, single mom. Together they find companionship, help each other grow, and form one of the sweetest examples of found family I've ever read. Nicole's story is told alongside of Albert's and it's just as affecting. While Albert has lived under the weight of homophobia, Nicole has grown up as a racial minority and deals with prejudice and bigotry, as well as the stigma of being a single mom. Nicole and Albert's stories start out grim but end up being celebrations of second changes, community, and self-love.

I haven't read many books that cover what it was like to be queer during the 1950s and 1960s, so I appreciated getting that perspective. I also liked that as Albert comes out and starts meeting other gay men, he begins to learn more about the fight for equality and queer history and culture. At times heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful, this is a well-told tale with a big heart.

I really enjoyed The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle. Albert is 65 and has lived in the same house his entire life and worked at the post office since he was 18. He is terrified of interacting with people and lives a very quiet life with his sweet cat Gracie as his only companion. After various occurrences disrupt his life, he decides to make some changes, including tracking down the love of his life who he was separated from as a teen.
The book jumps back and forth from the past to the present, and some of the past passages are heart wrenching and terrible (bigotry and homophobia). As the book progresses and we learn more of who Albert was, and watch his new relationships bloom as he becomes more comfortable sharing who he is with the world, It is really beautiful and rewarding and, despite the heartbreaking passages from the past, a joyful and uplifting story that I really enjoyed.

In the tradition of A Man Called Ove, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is a truly moving tale. It is a late-in-life coming of age story with a strong sense of place and time. It is both honest and uplifting, demonstrating that the terror of intolerance and hate can be overcome and that love of all kinds is possible when we open ourselves up to it.

CW: homophobia

I think I liked this book. Though there were a few things that felt kind of weird to me.

So, this is not my usual type of book, though I didn’t really know that going in. I saw ‘gay postman’ and I was in. Honestly, if it had just been ‘postman’ I still would have been in, because I can’t pass up a book about a postal worker (having spent 13 years as a postal worker in another life).

So, the book is about Albert Entwistle, who is a 64yo letter carrier. I had fun reading about his actual work, though I have to say that with current mail volumes, for a walk with 667 points of call, there is no way it should take 3.5 hours to sort. The only time I’ve been given even close to that long to sort was when I was delivering to a walk with 1200 points of call. Despite that, I really enjoyed all the work bits because it was a lot of the things I miss about the job. Also, the accuracy of a lot of the little annoyances; the mail slot with the brush bristles (seriously, who the fuck thought that up???), having to hide a big stick in a shrub so that you can distract the aggressive dog; too accurate.

Anyway, while there is a lot of postal content, that’s not really the main storyline. The main storyline is that Albert finds out 3 months before his 65th birthday that he will be forced to retire (Royal Mail does have compulsory retirement at 65). And then over Christmas he has a bit of a realization that all he has is his job (which he’s been doing since he was 16) and he sets out to make some changes. Sort of. He sets out to find the boy he fell in love with when he was 16, and we get to see his real self slowly revealed.

I’m not going to lie, the first quarter of this book is pretty bleak. Like, I felt so bad for Albert. Throughout the book we get flashbacks to the spring/summer he was 16 and in love with George and it is heartbreaking. I honestly think that’s what I got most from this book, the history and what it was like to be a gay man in the 1970s. Especially in rural, northern England. Having to constantly hide and worry about arrest (homosexual acts were legalized in 1967, but only if you were over 21, and only under certain conditions). I think one of things I liked most in the book is that at the end there are several interviews with gay men who are over 65yrs, talking about what it was like for them, being gay in the 60s and 70s. I feel like we all know we’ve come a long way with LGBTQIA+ rights, but for me, it almost seems abstract, because I don’t know a lot of specific history or what it was actually like.

Some of the things that didn’t quite work for me, and I’m going to be very general to avoid spoilers: Albert’s mam (I don’t understand any of her motives or Albert’s final decision on her), what seemed to be a throwaway line a side character said about their business partner “he’s gay so never had a family” (it just seems so stereotypical and wrong), and there were a few other small things that I’m not remembering at the moment.

Anyway, I did like this book. I want to say that I got queer Fredrik Backman vibes from this, but I’ve never actually read a Fredrik Backman, so I really don’t know if that’s accurate or not! If you are looking for a slow story about a postman’s life, this is the book for you!

the secret life of albert entwistle was heartwarming and sweet, but the pacing felt off and the writing was stilted at times. i also spotted several typos.

this wholesome story details the life of Albert Entwistle, a lonely postman who has spent the past fifty years hiding from his past. a past where he had found the love of his life; George.

this was such a beautiful read. it nearly made me cry (ME, who has NEVER cried at a book!!!)
the contrasting POVs between Albert and Nicole were wonderfully woven together to form what was a moving and emotional read about building a strong support network that allows you to feel comfortable in revealing your true self.

trigger warnings include: racism & homophobia

A charming book about a postman Albert Entwistle who after a lifetime of working for the post office is forced to retire due to his age. His whole life is disrupted what is he going on today after day he does not have his job and the people he sees in his travels. Albert decides that it is time to live his reality and look for a lost love called George. I book about time and how it is never to late find happiness.

This sweet story explores the life of Albert, who has hidden his identity as a gay man for his entire life. Growing up when he did, with a bigoted father, he spent his life ashamed of his attraction to men. He lost the love of his life because he couldn't admit to his family who he was. Now in his retirement he vows to change and begins to make friends and live his life, with the goal of finding that one man who got away.

I finished this book over a month ago, and I’m just now sitting down to write my review; for that, I apologize. This book was amazing! I feel like I’m going to be recommending this feel-good book for years and years.

This is what you’d call a comfort read.

Written in third-person with charming prose, the book follows a lonely, lovely, and relatable soon-to-be retiree who truly pulled on my heartstrings. It starts out bleak as the author establishes Albert as a shy, closeted man who hid away from everyone under the influence of his dreadful parents. His only solace is dancing to quiet music in his living room after work, and that’s something he only allows himself once in a while. Once Albert learns that he’s losing his postman job, and with it the only thing he was doing with his life, he decides that things need to change. He decides that maybe, just maybe, he should try to do more than just live.

It doesn’t take long to find yourself rooting desperately for Albert. We follow him on the adventure of a lifetime where he must embrace himself to track down his lost love, the person who brought about the happiest time of his life.

Some of you, like a friend of mine, might be tempted to skip this book because of the animal death content warning. If that’s truly a trigger for you, absolutely take care of yourself, but if it isn’t and that’s just something you try to avoid, know that this isn’t a story about losing your pet. Unfortunately, it’s just a step in Albert’s moving journey.

This is so much more than a love story. It’s the most inspiring piece of fiction I’ve read in ages. Not only is it never too late to change your life, but maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.