In Paddy Crewe’s riveting second book, we journey with him through arduous days of scavenging sea coal to nocturnal pub gigs in Northern England during the 1980s. The tale masterfully intertwines the lives of two contrasting yet fully-fleshed-out main characters: Keely, an avid reader striving to break free from a childhood shaped by destitution and sorrow, and Finn, a reserved individual tentatively stepping out towards a world of human interaction. Their union might just make them complete.
Their intricate relationship unfolds across three fascinating dimensions. The initial dimension sketches Keely’s childhood, portraying her life in a coastal settlement with her detached father and subsequent spiral into alcohol-drenched early adulthood.
The second dimension zooms in on Finn, branded an outsider and subjected to bullying at school who, to his own surprise, emerges as the charismatic lead of a rising local band. The intriguing part is that they both don’t cross paths for an extended period, a brilliant narrative move that lifts True Love beyond the clichéd romance plot.
Many would baulk at delaying the interaction of the core characters for so long, but for Crewe, this delay yields rich dividends. His strategy enables readers to deeply understand Keely and Finn as fully-realised individuals before their long-anticipated collision sparks “an explosion of complex, arrow-like emotions.” The moment when these intimately studied characters, following their failed youthful escapades, feel exuberant, free, and newly empowered over their own destinies is breathtaking.
Despite the explosive final act, True Love refrains from indulging in sentimentality, reflecting the harsh honesty of its title. It’s raw, unrefined. Crewe, originally from Middlesbrough, portrays the grim towns along the North Sea coast in a straightforward manner. These are cold, cloudy, harsh locations during financially taxing times. Pleasure can be derived from second-hand bookstores, uproarious nightlife or, for Finn and his bandmates, in translating their worldly experiences into music (a matter that Crewe adeptly captures in some of the novel’s most striking scenes).
Ultimately, the essence of the narrative is a celebration of how everyday lives can be elevated to an extraordinary level.