‘The more he swore off sex, the deeper the memories sank into his subconscious’ – Read an excerpt from Toy Boy, the new novel by Leon van Nierop
More about the book!

Leon van Nierop’s new novel Toyboy is out now from Penguin Random House SA.

The book will be launched at Love Books on 28 February 2018.

From the moment 26-year-old Tristan Hansen steps out of the shower and onto the roof garden of his Maboneng loft, Toy Boy pulsates with eroticism.

The air is hot and humid, and there’s a Joburg thunderstorm brewing on the horizon. The first flashes of lightning illuminates Tristan’s spectacular flat and the riches it contains: gifts of thanks from his many clients, tokens of their appreciation. Because Tristan is an angel of pleasure, an exclusive escort to Johannesburg’s rich and powerful women. And he is one of a kind.

But how did Tristan end up here?

Click on the link above for more about the book!

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Read an excerpt from the book, shared by Penguin Random House SA:

He remembered meeting Christina.

After his traumatic experience, before fleeing to Europe, he swore off sex completely. He was like a map without towns, a series of open spaces on a landscape. There may have been a few deserted roads, but there was no clear destination. Most roads simply vanished into nowhere.

To dull his memories he tried to keep busy, doing odd jobs. He laid bricks in London with an energy resembling a live electrical wire. This was an attempt to exorcise the demons that threatened to destroy him. And sometimes, when he slapped cement onto yet another brick, the sound triggered a memory that would make him lose his grip.

He worked as a security guard in Ireland, he plucked dead turkeys on a farm in Scotland, he wandered the moors near Inverness, hoping to find a job that would feed him. And with every boat he hopped onto towards a new destination, he felt even more lost.

His memories threatened to haunt him even when he slipped into bed in yet another hostel, the bedding still reeking of the farm worker who had slept there before him. The deeper he buried his head under a pillow, the fainter the memories would become. It provided him with short-lived respite from his night terrors.

The only time a memory managed to surface was when a woman openly stared and smiled at him. Then he felt the panic rising, the idea of a quickie or one-night stand filling him with dread. And the more he swore off sex, the deeper the memories sank into his subconscious. After a while he felt like a tree planted on the banks of a river, the bark concealing the wounds of an axe or a sharp
knife.

Those scars finally started healing when he met Christina in Italy. She awoke his emotions again. He felt like a patient waking from surgery. The desire for a woman filled his whole being. It reminded him of the Tristan he had been before being emotionally stunned months before.

When he met Christina, she smelled of the tiny waves on the Positano shore, caressing his ankles as he strolled through the water. He gradually welcomed the sexual human being he was too scared to recognise. It was like covering himself with a blanket in front of a fire after a snowstorm. That was the warmth she gave to him.