The Guncle Abroad

December 1, 2023

Gay uncle Patrick O'Hara is back in this sequel to the best-selling, Thurber Prize--winning The Guncle. This time he's taking niece Maisie and nephew Grant under his wing as they travel to Italy for their father's wedding, which they're not thrilled about. The wedding also makes Patrick take stock of his own life at age 50. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 4, 2024
The wise-cracking and wisdom-dropping protagonist of The Guncle returns for more adventures in Rowley’s diverting sequel. Patrick O’Hara, a 49-year-old sitcom star, is dreading his widower brother Greg’s second wedding. He’s not the only one—his beloved niece and nephew, Maisie, 14, and Grant, 11, also disapprove of their father’s relationship with Livia, a wealthy Italian marchesa. When Greg pleads for Patrick to take the children for a few weeks before the wedding, Patrick agrees, happy for the distraction from his anxiety about turning 50, which has driven a wedge in his relationship with his younger boyfriend, Emory. At Lake Como for the wedding preparations, Patrick finds a new cause of concern: Livia’s fashionable lesbian sister, Paloma, whom he worries will supplant him in his niece and nephew’s adoration. He also makes a noble attempt to discourage Maisie and Grant from scheming to put a stop to the wedding, where a series of rom-com-worthy unfold. Rowley keeps the retread afloat with Patrick’s biting wit (about the motormouthed Grant, Patrick says to his agent, “He’s what happens when the ventriloquist dies and the dummy keeps talking”). The author’s fans will gobble this up. Agent: Rob Weisbach, Rob Weisbach Creative Management.

April 1, 2024
Five years after the events in Rowley's crowd-pleasing The Guncle (2021), actor Patrick O'Hara's waning career has been revitalized thanks to a part in a movie set in London. This puts him on the right side of the pond to attend his brother's upcoming Lake Como wedding to Livia, a wealthy, minor Italian noble, and provides the perfect opportunity for his niece and nephew to visit him in advance of the ceremony. Maisie and Grant have an agenda for the trip, but it's not seeing the crown jewels or Big Ben. The tweens are vehemently against their father's marriage and want GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) to talk him out of it. It's not that long since their mother, and Patrick's BFF, Sara, died, and Maisie and Grant aren't ready for her replacement. As Patrick and his charges make their way from England to Italy, via France and Austria, GUP extends and receives lessons in love and second chances. Rowley's cunning sequel is as much travelogue as uplifting love story, with happy endings all around.

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April 1, 2024
Gay Uncle Patrick--GUP--is back, helping his niece and nephew deal with their father's remarriage. As the author humbly notes in his afterword, the first installment of this series was embraced by readers who fell in love with the character of the aging screen star and his relationship with young Maisie and Grant, whom he was caring for in the wake of their mother's death and their father's stint in rehab. Now it's five years later and the children have a new trauma to face--their father's wedding to a titled Italian woman, held at Lake Como. The first chapter starts with a bang, as we learn that the nuptials at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo are threatened with cancellation, to the seeming delight of the younger contingent, who remain 100% opposed. Readers who love Rowley for his banter, his classic gay/boomer wisdom ("brunch is awesome"; "I believe it was the great philosopher Steve Winwood who said that finer things keep shining through"), and his tender delineation of the bond between a man and his "niblings" will likely be able to forgive the dull, cringey trip through Europe that proceeds in flashback for the next third of the book, as Patrick introduces his charges to Parisian hot chocolate, Sound of Music lore in Austria, gondolas and gelato in Venice. Once back at Lake Como, things pick up, as Patrick throws himself into a rivalry with the children's prospective new "launt"--lesbian aunt--Palmina. At the emotional center of the novel are two characters at awkward ages: Maisie at 14, with her smart mouth, loyalty to her mom, problems with her period, and new Prada culottes; and Patrick at 49, who has cut his dear younger partner Emory loose in preparation for his imminent dotage. Fans of Guncle #1 (now big-screen bound) are most likely to stay on board, so best to start there.

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April 5, 2024

Maisie, Grant, and GUP, their Gay Uncle Patrick, return in Rowley's funny, heartfelt sequel to The Guncle. Patrick has remained a presence in Maisie's and Grant's lives while his acting career has been going great guns. But a major event has him once again stepping in to help the kids navigate a change. Greg, Maisie and Grant's father, has decided to remarry after five years of widowhood. The kids are not enthused. Maisie, now 14, is especially upset, and Greg begs Patrick to spend the few weeks before the wedding in Lake Como to help the kids come to terms with the marriage. Patrick, who's just finished filming a movie in London and also recently broke up with with his boyfriend, once again agrees to take the kids. Maisie and Grant are willing to travel across Europe with GUP--if he helps them convince their dad to cancel the wedding. As they travel, Patrick uses Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages to help the kids understand why their dad's remarriage might make sense; he also realizes that he too might have a lot to learn from his own lessons. VERDICT This follow-up has a humor and affection for the characters in a story with just the right amount of domestic tension but will still be a balm to readers.--Jane Jorgenson

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