I Am Not Raymond Wallace

Written by Sam Kenyon

Narrated by Alex Wingfield

Two worlds, two timelines and one person's impact.

Manhattan, 1963: weeks before the assassination of President Kennedy, fresh-faced Raymond Wallace lands in the New York Times newsroom on a three-month bursary from Cambridge University.

He soon discovers his elusive boss, Bukowski, is being covertly blackmailed by an estranged wife, and that he himself is to assist the straight-laced Doty on an article about the ‘explosion of overt homosexuality’. On an undercover assignment, a secret world is revealed to Raymond: a world in which he need no longer pretend to be something or someone he cannot be; a world in which he meets Joey.

Like so many men of his time and of his kind, Raymond faces a choice between conformity, courage and compartmentalization. The decision he makes will ricochet destructively through lives and decades until—in another time, another city; Paris, 2003—Raymond’s son Joe finally meets Joey. And the healing begins.

I Am not Raymond Wallace is a multi-stranded story of queer redemption spanning multiple generations, told with precision-tooled prose, sharply-imagined settings and compassionately-observed characterization.

Sam Kenyon is a writer, composer and teacher living in London with his partner and daughter. With a background in English Literature from Emmanuel College, he's delved into the performing arts on many occasions. "I Am Not Raymond Wallace" is Kenyon's debut novel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9788728334744

Reviews for I Am Not Raymond Wallace

[Ellen Lewis · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Bravuro!! This debut novel by Sam Kenyon has got to be if NOT the BEST novel I have read in the last 3 years!!

1963. Manhattan New York. And Gay.
21 year old Raymond Wallace is going to Cambridge University and is sent to New York for a 3 month internship at the New York Times, and he has no idea that he is gay. When Raymond takes this 'job' and is told that he needs more 'appropriate for the times' clothing to fit in to the group that he is going to be doing undercover writing for; he has no idea that he is going to fall in love whole heartedly for the first time in his life with the young man at the clothier. Joey the young shop boy, and fashionista is immediately smitten with Raymond as soon as he walks into the door of the shop. What continues for the rest of the 300 plus pages of this debut novel has got to be the most beautifully written account of a 21 year old mans 'Sexual Awakenings' as I have ever read. I have read many!

As my self a gay boy growing up in the early 60's and knowing it at the age of 6, I could relate to SO MUCH of what was going on in this book made this THE story that i will NEVER ever forget, nor will I forget Raymond Wallace.

There are and were scenes of gay sex portrayed quite vividly, but this should be a story that anyone and not only gay men or boys, should read if you know what true and real love and love for LIFE is all about. Stunning.

HIGHLY recommended!
5 ?????