Adam Mars-Jones:
KID GLOVES
Subtitled
‘A Voyage Round My Father’ (borrowing from John Mortimer’s memorable biography),
this is a subtle and charming memoir from one of Britain’s leading gay writers.
William Mars-Jones was a Queens Counsel, a Knight and a High Court Judge. As a
father he was somewhat Victorian, not touchy-feely like today’s dads (up to and
including Prince William), not noted for humour, more generous with criticism
than praise. He was also homo-phobic, making him a less than ideal parent for
Adam. The process by which he came to terms with his son’s homosexuality was a
slow one, helped to a considerable degree by the onset of dementia. Ironically
it was the gay son who offered the most support during the judge’s long
decline.
Adam takes us through the highlights of his father’s illustrious career, but
it is the family ‘saga’ that provides the most engrossing element of the book.
Some of the peripheral characters are wonderfully presented: the agency carers, lawyers great and small, and Adam’s lovers (odd that he makes them peripheral to his memoir) – one of whom died of Aids at 26.
William’s
wife, Sheila, died before him, of a grim cancer. She died at home, in a
separate bedroom from her husband to spare him, with his own health struggles,
full exposure to her death. ‘She had
uncoupled the marital train and left her husband behind in a siding,’ Adam
writes in one of the book’s many memorable sentences. ‘It was kid gloves all round,’ he explains the title, ‘some of them elbow-length, in the debutante
or drag-queen manner.’
The
book is written with dry humour and a measured detachment, but the reader is
always aware of the pain and the grief that have been the author’s frequent
companions. His dad ought to be immensely proud of him.
