Benson at Sixty
Subtitle: The fourth - and final - Benson novel
Publisher: Cutting Edge
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London, England
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 438
Table of contents: title: First print edition of the fourth novel chronicling the life of Martin Benson. He is back on Merseyside after a lifetime away. He's bought a house at the top of the town and filled it with souvenirs of a wandering life. He shares his home with a motorcycle test examiner, Rob, who tripped over Benson when he was comotose one dark night on the promenade, sensed Benson was a slave to the bottle, took him to a meeting of QA (Queer Alcoholics), and moved in.; title: Rob sets out to make a new man of Benson. He cajoles him into riding his Honda CG 125 with due care and attention; taking a demanding job as a Byelaws Officer with the local lifeguard service; befriending fellow queers who have fallen victim to booze and been arrested for cottaging; resisting the charms of Health-and-Safety A;;an; pointing out markets for Benson's pyrography (wood-burning) products; finding a solution to Benson's ongoing resentments against Kirsty Wark and Busy Sandra ('Pray for them')...and suggesting that he and Benson tie the knot at a civil ceremony in glamorous Blackpool.; title: After a lifetime spent in the shallow, Bewnson has come to the point - somewhat late in his day - when he must face reality a\nd proceed, guided by Rob and his mates in QA, into life's deep-end.; title: But can he? Will 'Dearest Him' finally win out over a lifetime of one-night-stands? Can Benson ever go home and nail his white loafers with Velcro fastenings to the kitchen floor?