King is an impressive novel from Chloë Fowler. The ‘king’ of the title is, of course, Elvis Presley, whose face in close-up and youth adorns the front cover.
Jess is a queer Elvis impersonator. A lesbian with a wife, child, and a desire to perform and to be adored.
King starts at the Edinburgh Fringe, where Jess has sell-out shows as she slowly dresses as Elvis through her act.
When her family faces a crisis, will she make the right decisions in life? Fowler brings the close-knit world of the Fringe, a busy London, and even the nightlife in Memphis to life.
She imagines situations, people, and feelings. Creates a whole world in stage and screen worlds where the King is viewed through a queer prism and the eyes of the woman who mimics his quiff and wears replicas of his bejewelled rings.
Seen wholly through Jess’s eyes, other characters do take a back seat but they feel ring through several intimate conversations in person or detached ones across screens.
Sarah, her businesslike wife who wants Jess to MC a work event but can’t be wholly proud of her. Tiff, a journalist who offers an open door. Jak, a non-binary director who offers an escape.
And two sets of people who love Elvis, one at a British ‘Elvis Con’ in Birmingham, one in a bar Jess finds when she’s walking in Memphis. Which group will embrace her and let her find her path in life, signposted by the King himself?
I really enjoyed this book. It captures the loneliness of life away from home for a performer, and tips a hat to the reality of a domestic life that may be right for one but not another.
It demonstrates an understanding of emotional and physical imtimacy without taking that aspect too far, and in Jess’s Elvis imitation, recognises that he has a legacy that reaches into the depths of many varied lives.
This novel may appeal to open-minded Elvis fans as well as those who appreciate good fiction in the LGBTQ+ space.
****
King is published by Hatchling Press. I received a review copy via NetGalley.