DNA: What’s the appeal of writing a novel with gay characters set in the 1930s?
JA Wells: The Jazz Age of the 1920s was a decade of extravagance. Europe, America and the Middle East were, at last, free of conflict; a liberation promoting freedom of ideas and artistic expression. People with means could travel again. Then, the Wall Street crash of 1929 saw industry moguls facing ruin and sent the working classes into abject poverty. The 1930s saw a decline in the splendor of the previous Jazz Age, but not so for millionaire Ronald Fry. There would always be sugar; the mainstay of the Fry family empire. The middle-aged millionaire and 17-year-old working class go-getter, Mervyn Watson, cavort, covertly, with Ron providing the luxurious lifestyle. That’s the setting for The Merry Millionaire.
Are Ron and Mervyn oblivious to the approaching tragedy of World War II?