Owen Blacker reviewed The Companion by E. E. Ottoman
Review of 'The Companion' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The Companion is a gentle, comforting book about healing from trauma and learning to trust, with a t4t4t poly trans triad. When Madeline is exhausted from trying to break into the 1940s New York literary scene, a friend suggests she spend some time as live-in companion to Victor, a reclusive best-selling novelist upstate, whose ex-lover Audrey also lives nearby.
EE Ottoman describes himself as a “writer of radical trans happily ever afters” and is one of the earliest known out trans authors of trans romance; he’s been honoured by Romance Writers of America as a genre trailblazer both in trans romance and in diverse historical romance.
This book is exactly the kind of snug and cosy cottagecore that many of us have been looking for as a balm during this panjandrum. Seeing polyamory, with consensual multi-way sexual relationships, being represented in literature is rare enough, but an all-queer, all-trans polycule …
The Companion is a gentle, comforting book about healing from trauma and learning to trust, with a t4t4t poly trans triad. When Madeline is exhausted from trying to break into the 1940s New York literary scene, a friend suggests she spend some time as live-in companion to Victor, a reclusive best-selling novelist upstate, whose ex-lover Audrey also lives nearby.
EE Ottoman describes himself as a “writer of radical trans happily ever afters” and is one of the earliest known out trans authors of trans romance; he’s been honoured by Romance Writers of America as a genre trailblazer both in trans romance and in diverse historical romance.
This book is exactly the kind of snug and cosy cottagecore that many of us have been looking for as a balm during this panjandrum. Seeing polyamory, with consensual multi-way sexual relationships, being represented in literature is rare enough, but an all-queer, all-trans polycule might even be unique in fiction and it's refreshing for there to be no real conflict in the romance, it’s just 3 people healing together: as author KJ Charles put in her review: “Victor says, ‘I am good at being hurt and bad at being loved.’ Ooof.”
As Shana wrote for Smart Bitches, Trashy Books:
There’s lots of cooking, sexytimes, vintage fashion, and walks in the woods along the way. I adored how comforting this was, but readers looking for an action-filled plot will be disappointed. The setting is verdant, rural, dreamy, and totally separated from the rest of the world. While the characters allude to the hostility outside of their bubble, the story is insularly focused on the safe place they create together.
KJ Charles summarised the book well:
This is very much a book about healing, which can’t happen till people stop stabbing you. It’s faintly melancholy in the recognition that the outer world is brutally hostile, but the power of the world they build for themselves is also palpable. … This is very much a story of repair and regrowth, and learning to believe you can have happiness, in whatever shape fits you. And if that's not the essence of romance, I don’t know what is.
The Companion featured on The New York Times’ summer romance reading list, was shortlisted in Reads Rainbow’s adult historical category and in the Best LGBTQI Scene category of the Good Sex Awards.
The book opens with a detailed list of content notes, including that the language is era-appropriate for the 1940s, including about gendered body parts, transphobia, homophobia and sexism. The book includes discussions of internalised transphobia, sexual shame and self-worth; there is also mention of rape culture, sexual exploitation and coercion of trans women, and of trans safety in public spaces. Finally, the book is sexually explicit, including several scenes of graphic sex between the 3 protagonists.
