The Partisans: A review on Amazon by R. Herron

I just finished ready this novel and it was the most enjoyable reading experience I’ve had in a long time. It was brilliant the way Mr. Brant weaved an interracial gay love story and a war. As an African American gay man, it was great to find characters that embraced each other’s diversity and found they were more alike than not. This could be a great movie if someone was courageous enough to make it. The Partisans is truly a treasure. I’m recommending it to all of my friends. I’m looking forward to reading other books by this author.

From Chapter Three

“I understand,” said Jhan, producing a sympathetic smile.  He looked back at Ethan.  “My father’s an SS officer.  He’s always been ruthlessly autocratic.  Now he’s a brutal tyrant.  My older brother is an ambitious bureaucrat, callously ambitious, and far removed from the intellectual he thinks he is.  My lifelong best friend is a Jew, or should I say was a Jew, I wouldn’t know.  Our friendship goes back to grade school, where we practiced the art of mischief together.  My own brother turned him in to further his career.  He laughed at me when I attacked him because of it.  My mother is a nervous rabbit, ruined by an abusive husband and the effects of the Reich.  So to answer your question, I’m not motivated by my moral objections—I’m driven.”

From Chapter Seven

Golden brown in the soft light, powerful and muscular, Jhan wondered how a man like Ethan managed to look submissive.  But he did, with his hands up behind his head, body exposed, legs parted.  It struck Jhan that something not so easily found would have seemed impossible just a week earlier; but right here in this remote barn, two men’s lives were changing.  His gaze lingered, just to assure himself that this was for him, that it was real, that just now nothing else mattered.  A gaze—quiet, contemplative, though more than enough to set the urges welling.  How like a summer storm these things come over a man.  Now, after so many years of loneliness, here was a man willing and waiting for his touch, someone like himself who understands the ache.

Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions.