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Getting Orlando
 
 

Getting Orlando [Kindle Edition]

Anthony McDonald
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Print List Price: £12.99
Kindle Price: £2.99 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Product Description

When Oliver loses his job and his lover in the space of a few months, he wonders if he will ever know happiness again.

Unexpectedly, his life is transformed when he encounters an extraordinarily beautiful red-head on a train just minutes before a stranger in a pub offers him money to courier a mysterious package out of the country. Opportunities for cash, travel and adventure are suddenly within his grasp, as well as, amazingly, the young man to share them with.
But when dreams come true, the aftermath is seldom predictable, and Oliver finds himself drawn into the outer orbits of a shadowy world of art theft and drug smuggling, and into a relationship whose roller-coaster progress will test him to his limits.

Getting Orlando is a story of adventure, travel and romantic obsession.

Praise for Anthony McDonald’s writing:“The ebb and flow of romantic friendship, the perplexities of maturing from boy to man, and the puzzle of how to fit gay self into a straight world: these eternal queer questions are explored with astute insight - and bracing erotic interludes - in McDonald's stellar, thoughtful novel.” – Richard Labonte (Blue Sky Adam)

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 542 KB
  • Print Length: 400 pages
  • Publisher: BIGfib Books (22 April 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004XRC0JU
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #36,760 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and well written 1 Oct 2011
By Stuart
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Older guy falls in love with a younger guy, tries too hard to impress, makes some silly decisions, end up on the run from the law. Sounds dreadful. Thankfully the author takes this scenario and weaves a well written and very descriptive story around it which keeps you turning the page. 'Just one more chapter before I go to bed'; then 'ok then, just another one'. And then, some hours later, you have to force yourself to put the book down. At least that is how it went with me.

There was a brief point in the middle of the book when I thought the coincidences were getting a bit too much; the decisions just a bit too wrong. But that passed and we were off again tumbling down the storyline.

I like the author's style and his ability to paint me into the scenery, be that rural England, France or Spain. He's taken me into those hotels, hostels, bars and countryside - I could see what they were seeing. So the odd bit of contrived storyline can be forgiven.

I loved it.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down! 20 July 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have just finished reading this book on kindle and first of all it was a terrific read. I just didn't want to get to the end. Excitement simmered just beneath the surface. The story line was totally believable and the emotional twists and turns made it all the more compelling. There were several relevant things that ticked boxes for me. Red-headed young men for one, Costa del Sol (Nerja, Frigiliana etc in Spain) where we spent a holiday last year and where some action took place, and then Madeira. I shall definitely be reading this book again.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars An emotionally-charged domino stack of events 25 Sep 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Unemployed civil servant Oliver receives an offer from a friend's acquaintance for an expenses-paid trip to Madeira to courier a rather unconventional package - a set of dominoes. Despite his understandable suspicion, he agrees to pursue the offer. Following a series of chance encounters with an unemployed actor, their own lives become embroiled in a complex domino stack of events in which they discover that neither their ethics nor their mutual love are set in black or white.

Though let down in places by over-reliance on coincidence, this remains a highly readable novel: fast-paced, strong characters and good style.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Editorial help needed 30 Nov 2011
By David
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
McDonald is a very good writer - far better than the average gay novelist - but one who is in urgent need of editorial help. I've read all three of his novels, and in each case the plots rely on incidents or coincidences which are totally unbelievable, particularly this last one, where the denouement is so unlikely as to be almost laughable (I can't give more details without revealing the plot.)

So, BIGfib Books, do please keep publishing him, but fix him up with a strong and firm editor.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic, inventive and exciting. 6 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Anthony McDonald has a gift for hugely attractive characters, highly original plots and for the brilliant evocation of place - in this instance Spain and France in particular. I loved this book, which continues the brilliant record set by McDonald's three previous novels. In this one, Oliver, aged 38 and newly made redundant, sees, and eventually meets, 24 year-old Orlando. The story is that of their relationship and adventures and mishaps, in a plot which is full of ingenious twists and turns without ever being incredible. But the biggest appeal of this book is in the two central characters. Any man who has ever fallen for another man significantly younger than himself will feel with and for Oliver and the anguish of rejection. This is a book which could be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys a rattling good story and the portrayal of human dilemmas. But it will clearly appeal most to gay men because of its intimate, telling and 'true' portayal of a loving, passionate and complex relationship between two men.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars My review of Getting Orlando 26 July 2011
By lindys
Format:Kindle Edition
I read this a few weeks ago and I can still remember much about the characters and the plot which is not bad going for me! Getting Orlando is an enjoyable read with lovely descriptions of the countryside and buildings, both in England and in Spain. The friends have quite an adventure and get into all sorts of scrapes some of which are self inflicted and had me shouting at them to think before taking the next step. I can recommend this book as a very 'good read'.
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5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible gay story teller 18 Nov 2012
By komkon2
Format:Paperback
I am only annoyed that it took me so long to discover Anthony McDonald. I feel like I don't want to read anybody else again. I arrived at this novel after heaving read Adam and Blue Sky Adam, and these novels share some of the fantastic features of "Getting Orlando" described below (how did a simple summer flirt of a sixteen year old turn into a love hexagon, lovers circling each other like planets in a solar system?). (I may add that even though there are some highly erotic parts in McDonald's novels - in the Adam books more than in this one -, they are no porn. So if you are looking for that, go somewhere else.)

McDonald is an amazing story teller. With a straight face, he spins the most incredible yarn. A 38 year old laid off civil servant, out of a relation and feeling old, sees a red-headed 24 year old boy on a train and fantasizes about him. Yawn, what's new? But the fantasy turns real: they fall in love with each other and spend the rest of their lives together. Happy end. If that is incredible enough, so are all the little steps in between. At some point, the two will be hunted by the police in at least three countries - a gay Bonnie and Clyde. They will have survived a lorry crash in a mountainous wilderland, smuggled red wine from Spain to France, get divided by more than 3000 miles and meet each other by what is perhaps the most incredible chance event.

How does McDonald pull it off? Simple: he leaves nothing to chance. Every turn of events is explained so well it seems ordinary and predictable. In fact, the story moves like a clockwork.
... Read more ›
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