Some readers may take issue with the age difference (Ben is twenty-one and Leo is sixteen), but this seemed irrelevant to me as it is above the age of consent in France/Italy. I wanted to see how much farther that relationship could go, but then I started to feel sorry for Ben’s lovely boyfriend, Gabriel. The way Eks describes Ben’s lust for Leo is so magnetizing and intense. He appears to fall for Leo quite hard in just one day, but that is part of the fantasy. I liked the main character, Ben and sympathized with his dilemma, although he does sometimes come across as a little immature.

In fact, I found it served the book by taking the reader into the culture and letting us bask in that glorious Mediterranean sun with the main characters. On rare occasions, the odd French/Italian word or phrase is weaved into the dialogue but this is not a challenge, even for a monolingual reader like myself. The characters are French and Italian, but the book is in English. This novella is set on a boat on the French Riviera, near the Italian border. I found it to be both beautifully erotic and, at times, made me nostalgic for my own youth. 'Le Berceau' is now available as an E-book from the Bold Strokes Books website and other online vendors Set on a boat on the French Riviera, this gay erotic romance follows the journey of Ben as he battles with his lustful desire for the youthful adolescent, Leo. He enjoys learning about the lives of queer people from different cultures and times, with a view to giving them a literary voice and further enriching the rainbow book repertoire. He likes to write about the under-represented members of the LBGTQ+ community and finds great fulfillment in learning from their experiences through his writing and research. Still active as a musician, Eks divides his time between homes in the UK and rural France, where he spends his time writing and hiking in the mountains.ĭuring his career, traveling the globe and meeting many fascinating queer people from different backgrounds, Eks realised that these stories need to be told. Julius Eks is a queer British author of gay fiction.Įks started out life as a professional musician, traveling the world for many years (under a different name) as a concert pianist and composer.

Le berceau by julius eks