I listened to We Could Be So Good a few years ago, and am really happy to have rediscovered this well written historical fiction, if one can consider the 1950’s historical. Cat Sebastian’s author’s note at the end provides the research she did in order to anchor the story of two men who work together, who become friends, and over time become lovers in context of real events in New York City. Nick and Andy’s characters are very real, their in their behaviors, inner and outer dialogue, and their desire to remain safe in a society that would arrest them for indecent behavior and thrown in jail. In the history of the world, homosexuals have suffered bigotry, discrimination, and possible violence except in the company of open minded friends and family. It’s incredibly sad that even today, with all the forward movement towards civil and matrimonial equality, our gay fellow Americans are still in jeopardy physically, financially, and emotionally.

I especially enjoyed Nick and Andy’s carefully slow progress towards having a physical relationship and eventually moving in together. Andy’s initial personality was immature and clumsy. His mother abandoned him and his father to pursue her own career, and his father was busy building a newspaper so Andy grew up feeling like he was a bother and didn’t feel he was worthy of commitment and love. Nick’s friendship gave Andy the stability to gain confidence in himself at work, which led to Andy gaining confidence in his own opinions, and to finally open himself up to loving Nick, and even taking over control of his father’s newspaper legacy. Nick’s character sounds drop dead sexy Italian man, all man. Nick never believed he could come out of hiding his homosexuality and his traditional Italian family had little to say except “Nicky, when are you going to bring a girl home to meet the family?”. That attitude reinforced his thinking that he would never be accepted for who he was. Nick had a deep rooted fear of being revealed to his family and colleagues, and it took a long time for his relationship with Andy to help him open up and come out of hiding enough to be himself in his circle of friends. This was a wonderful book, and if this era and genre appeal to you, I highly recommend Cat Sebastian’s glimpse into the lives of real people and political events in the 1950’s. Joel Leslie performed a top notch narration for this book, as usual. Yay for a human voice actor rather than the stilited uninspiring un-nuanced AI voice being used today in some books. You get what you pay for!!!