ROMAN IVORY | Kirkus Reviews

In the late 19th century, the son of a recently deceased British banker discovers the dark erotic secrets of his father’s carefully concealed alternate life.

Robert Stapleton, son of Joseph Stapleton, the “1st Viscount Barrington,” is 19 years old when his father dies suddenly of rheumatic fever in December of 1877. At the formal reading of Joseph’s will, Robert learns that in addition to his father’s title and the family’s two homes (one in London and another in Surrey), he has inherited a third house, located on Carlton Hill in St. John’s Wood, London. The St. John’s Wood house is a surprise—Robert has never heard of its existence, though it’s evidently common knowledge among other family members. When he goes to London to examine the mysterious edifice, he’s confronted with an uncomfortable truth. The home contains a plethora of ancient Greek and Roman coins and pieces of pottery, all bearing images of male erotica, as well as several sketches of a young boy by an artist named Jean-Louis Fortin. One artifact is especially startling: “The object in the largest bag appeared to have been carved from an elephant tusk. The cylindrical shaft tapered slightly, but at one end was a large bulbous swelling, an almost completely smooth helmet-like protuberance…The piece was unmistakably phallic.” A conversation with the housekeeper reveals that Joseph entertained and offered shelter to various young male artists. Several days later, Robert visits an eminent archeologist at the British Museum and learns that the ivory object is identical to one found at the murder scene of an unscrupulous art dealer in Rome several decades earlier. The year of the murder coincides with the time Joseph spent touring the Continent studying art. Robert, who’s been wrestling with his own sexual attraction to men (an inclination he considers sinful), decides to travel through Europe to learn more about Joseph’s life during his time in Paris and Rome. Accompanying him is Joseph’s elderly and faithful valet, Walters, who speaks little but is adept at caring for Robert in style.

With Robert’s arrival in Paris, Bruegmann’s carefully scribed tale turns steamy and unsettling. The narrative is told in two parts, the first section narrated by Robert and the second by an older man, Fabrizio Croce, an art and antiquities dealer with whom Robert develops a relationship. The plotline takes a deep dive into a shadowy world of male homosexuality in 19th-century London, Paris, and Rome, a realm of sado-masochistic encounters between older, frequently married men and young boys who are paid or otherwise compensated for their participation. All of this is coated with the gloss of an interest in art obsessively focused on the male body. The novel is both a love story and an intriguing sociological and historical examination of the gay culture of the era, with a murder mystery thrown in for good measure. A surprise revelation at the end of Part One adds an additional twist to the story; however, Bruegmann’s indulgence in vividly graphic and fervent descriptions of sexual rituals that involve bondage, whipping, and assorted practices of domination and submission will likely narrow his audience.

Historically and culturally revelatory and poignantly emotional, but also intensely sexually explicit and disturbing.