Eustacia's Secret: A Love Story by David Bennett Laing

After reading and enjoying Angelika, I certainly looked forward to reading another work of this author. I found myself drawn into the story due to many reasons: exquisite language, the tender love between Darcy and Eustacia, certain interesting information about Jamaica and the overall humor.

The story is set in the late ‘60s and it offers the reader a view on how things were at the time. On top of that, and the main topic, it offers a view from the perspective of an effeminate young boy Stanford. While he has his parents full support, due to his increasingly feminine appearance it seems impossible for him to maintain his male identity in Jamaica. Hence he takes the name of Eustacia and moves to Vermont to live with the Coxes. Prior to Eustacia’s arrival Perry, Darcy’s friend, put a spell on him, out of a silly joke: “Dragon’s breath and snatch my beanie! May Darcy find a girl like Jeannie!” To my amusement, Darcy did find his Jeannie bit later in Eustacia. Not only she looked very much like the actress in the movie, but she also loved playing Jeannie’s role with her parents and later on with Darcy. The pure love that it is born between Eustacia and Darcy Cox is really sweet. They develop deep feelings for each other while they are also sharing many common interests at the same intellectual level.
As the title says it is indeed a story of true love and the author did a remarkable job by not dramatizing the transgender part but putting in the spotlight Darcy’s lack of judgments regarding it. It would be great if in real life everyone would treat LGBT people with the same respect as we are all simply human beings.
The plot is very well constructed and written and it didn't surprise me being charmed by the author’s style already.

Type of reader: If you're looking for not only a love story but to open your horizons, broaden your thoughts, views, and understandings from a different angle then this book is for you.

My favorite quotes from this book:

“Mummy…, Daddy…,” he said, his voice shaking as tears began to run down his cheeks, “I don’t care; I really don’t care…. There’s so much more to my dear, sweet love than a stupid appendage! As far as I’m concerned, Eustacia is a girl, and I’ll take her just the way she is. I don’t care if she’s male, female, or something in between, because life without her would be unthinkable.”

“You are who you are; I am who I am. We’re all different, and we all like different things, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Jeannie,” Darcy asserted, “when they made you, they broke the mold. For you, there can be no replacement, not now, not ever.”

My rating: 5/5.

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