Narrated by Joel Leslie
The Spare is an entertaining mix of romance and sweeping family drama set in an AU in which Queen Victoria II sits upon the British throne – the first ever divorced monarch – and which features multiple storylines for her and her three children, Arthur, Prince of Wales, Edward (the titular “Spare”) and Alexandra. I read the book last year and enjoyed it, but although it contains one primary romance that reaches its HEA and other romantic threads throughout, I’d suggest anyone contemplating listening to this – and it’s well worth a listen – should think Downton Abbey rather than His Royal Secret. The book blurb is somewhat misleading in this respect.
When the novel begins, HRH Edward Nicholas William Desmond Kensington, second son of Queen Victoria II, is making his first public appearance in the UK since he was publicly outed when old photographs – taken while he was at university – of him cuddled up to another man were splashed across the UK tabloids. His family is aware of his bisexuality, but he’s kept it under wraps everywhere else mostly for their sake; his mother’s divorce some years before mired them all in enough scandal to last a lifetime, and Eddie was hoping he’d be able to pick his own moment to make an announcement. But it was not to be and now the fallout has to be dealt with.
The Palace communications team has been in damage control mode since the story broke, and their mitigation plan is for Eddie to counter the “ugly rumours” by being seen out and about with a suitable – and carefully vetted – young woman he could conceivably form a long-term connection with. It’s what he expected from them and he has no real alternative than to do what’s being asked of him, but it’s infuriating and insulting; his privacy has been invaded and there’s nothing he can do about it, and now he’s going to have to spend yet more time living a lie and denying who he truly is. Worse, it means he’ll have to continue hiding the fact that for the past eight years, he’s been in love with his principal protection officer, former SAS operative Isaac Cole.
It’s clear that Isaac is every bit as far gone for Eddie as vice versa, and also that he’s never been anything but professional around him, so they’re at something of a stalemate, neither of them able to see a way forward to be together as anything as protector and protectee. Until the night everything changes, after a bomb goes off at an exclusive London night club where Eddie has gone for a night out.
After this, the story starts to open out and the other plotlines – some of which have been already introduced (such as the one featuring Alexandra and journalist Daniel Black who has been hired to go through the recently deceased Queen Mother’s papers and write her official biography) – start to come into play, while Eddie and Isaac’s story assumes less prominence, and in fact, the pair spend the middle third (or so) of the book apart. Eddie’s brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, is one of the people Eddie has been trying to protect by not coming out publicly and not causing more scandal. Arthur has made a career in the RAF, but at the beginning of the book has had to finally accede to the wishes of his mother and the government and step down in order to pick up his royal duties. But whereas Eddie has always been the ‘people person’ of the younger generation of royals – charming, personable and able to turn around an awkward conversation or divert a difficult question – Arthur is shy and reserved, and Eddie knows how difficult he’s going to find life in the spotlight. Then there’s Eddie’s sister Alexandra, labelled absorbed and empty-headed by the media, his aunt Sophie (in whose character there are definite echoes of Princess Margaret) and his conflicted feelings about the father he so resembles, a man whose infidelities and addictions eventually led to divorce, but who he can’t quite bring himself to hate.
All these (and other) plotlines are interesting and cleverly woven together for the most part (there are a few scenes that don’t seem to accomplish anything or go anywhere), but there’s no getting away from the fact that the synopsis sells The Spare as an m/m romance, but really it’s a wider, ensemble story featuring an m/m romance, so if you’re interested in listening to it, you may need to adjust your expectations a bit. Eddie and Isaac do get their HEA in something of a soapy, fairytale ending – but when one half of a romantic couple is a prince, I suppose that’s to be expected!
I really appreciated the amount of research that must have gone into this story, because Miranda Dubner does a terrific job when it comes to exploring the way the actual Royal Family works – in terms of the many customs and protocols – and applying and adapting them in a way that’s perfectly plausible. Also really well done is the look at how today’s media works, how vicious it can be, and how helpless even the most celebrated, high-ranking people in the country can be against it.
I remember seeing Joel Leslie say on social media last summer that he was going to be narrating this book and thinking “Perfect!” I can think of very few performers with the range and versatility needed to be able to voice a book containing a cast of thirty (?) speaking roles, around a dozen or which are major recurring characters, and – no spoilers – he delivers an outstanding performance. He’s a superb vocal actor, and all the things you’d expect of a narrator of his calibre – pacing, characterisation, differentiation – are spot on. But most impressive of all is the sheer number of different character voices and accents he has at his disposal; we’ve got a Welsh journalist, PPOs from London, Scotland, the West Country and the north of England, an American businessman… and his perfectly modulated RP (received pronunciation) is totally on point for the royals and some of their acolytes. His female voices are always good, his comic timing is excellent and his ability to switch seamlessly between characters in conversational scenes (without mixing them up!) is incredible. If you’ve listened to Joel Leslie before, then you’ll already know just how good he is. If you haven’t got around to it yet, you’ve got a treat in store.
The Spare is sharply observed, funny and poignant, with a wonderfully rounded cast of characters, lots of witty banter and a clutch of compelling storylines. But I can’t deny that I’d have liked more of the focus to have been on Eddie and Isaac and can’t help wishing that some of those other storylines could have been saved for another book so as to allow more space for the romance to develop. I really wanted more of their backstory and to be shown how they became so close, but as it stands, neither that nor their current relationship is all that well fleshed-out.
Despite that, The Spare has a lot going for it once you know what you’re getting, and Joel Leslie’s barnstorming performance definitely makes the case for experiencing it in audio format.
Caz
Buy The Spare by Miranda Dubner on Amazon
