The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas review

Two men in midlife navigate their growing desire to commit to each other in a changing Australia

Perry is a 53-year-old translator; Ivan is a 55-year-old landscape gardener. One is of Greek heritage, one Serbian. They are both in recovery from previous lovers, yet tonight they find themselves preparing for an app-arranged date in the suburbs of Melbourne. Will they find the nerve to fall in love?

Christos Tsiolkas’s latest novel takes us on a journey that ranges not just across Melbourne but back into past landscapes of shame and forward into new territories of possibility. Its set pieces include a heart attack, a brilliantly quarrelsome dinner party, a night in a penthouse and a climactic visit to one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. All of them are vividly crafted. There’s also quite a lot of frank and medium-filthy sex.