The Last Love of Pedro Balaclava's Neighbor

About the Book

Who are the people who must have lived in order for us to be here today? How many of us can trace our families back for more than a couple of generations? How much do we know about our direct ancestors who lived 200 years ago? Are we making love today to people we are actually related to? Both genetics and fate maintain that this may indeed be the case.

"The Last Love of Pedro Balaclava's Neighbor" is a complex story told in a series of vignettes which ultimately alternate between present-day Mexico City and the Mexico City of 1800. A young Mexican, Pedro Balaclava, moves in to the elegant apartment building where an old Englishmen is his neighbor in the adjoining penthouse. They begin a relationship over a glass of sherry, a relationship which at first conforms to the usual refined lifestyles of wealthy gay men: Elegant parties attended by interesting people, from gay bathhouse owners to the uproariously dressed French ambassador's wife; weekends at private villas in Acapulco; choppy hovercraft rides from Naples to Capri; disappointed loves at chic Parisian hotels.

During a weekend retreat at the beach, the strikingly handsome Fulgencio Cohiba, the son of a wealthy Cuban tobacco magnate, reveals to the central characters the collected diaries of his family, stretching back over 200 years. This revelation unleashes a whirlwind of unexpected genealogies, twists of fate which (like all twists of fate) border on the incredible, and a gallery of characters with identical names which fuse into the old Englishman's collective memory of his past. A passionate relationship which took place between Pedro Balaclava's 19th century forbear and the old Englishman's ancestor, John Wilson, becomes the cornerstone for the final days of the Englishman's life. Unknowingly near to death, (like all of us), his lovemaking with Pedro is haunted and enthused by the ghosts of their two young forefathers, who loved each other two hundred years earlier.

In this novel of love between souls which cannot be bound by the constraints of time, Gerard McGorian conjures up a magical and deliberately intangible world of memory, myth, faith, alienation, and belonging. Historical characters from Simon Bolivar to Charles de Gaulle make cameo appearances alongside the violent Roberto Cohiba and the passionate lover himself, Pedro Balaclava.

Although the story takes place in locations as varied as Naples, Cuba, Berlin, Liverpool, New York, and Acapulco, it is Mexico City which plays the starring role as a character in itself. The mythical city of the Aztecs comes alive in striking imagery and helps guide the fates of the 19th century and modern-day protagonists. From its fame as the legendary city in the mountains "where the air is clear" to its present incarnation as one of the most polluted cities on earth, the ancient city of Tenochtitlan is edging towards death as surely as the old Englishman. In a surprising and final twist, fate brings the Englishman and the city together, revealing them to have been more closely related than anyone could ever have imagined.

About the Author

Gerard McGorian was born in Liverpool in 1960. Author of The Last Love of Pedro Balaclava’s Neighbor, he lives in Mexico City.