OLIVER Thistlewood House is my life. I always knew I would return to my hometown of Willowburn to run the historic museum. It’s my safe place, where I always know what to expect. What took me by surprise was how the place never quite bounced back after the pandemic. Now it’s just as beautiful as it’s always been, but attendance is down and the former monastery is at risk of being forgotten. Until I find explicit sketches proving the long-rumoured clandestine relationship between the famous Friar Randall and the local physician. This is just what the museum needs to make a fresh splash. Now I just need the right art conservator to restore the sketches for display. RYLAN Oliver Wicklow was my dream man back in university. But I was scrawny and painfully shy then, so I never made a move. Since my dad’s accident, most days he doesn’t remember who I am, and I’ve been stressed and lonely in a way I never imagined. The care home is bleeding me dry, so when Oliver contacts me out of the blue to assist with an important restoration, I jump at the well-paying gig. But the blunt, resilient, enigmatic man I remember is even more alluring now. And with each day I descend deeper into his historic little world in the woods — and feel a strange sense of belonging with the other “Thistles” who work here — I risk getting so lost I won’t be able to find my way out again. And maybe… I won’t want to. The Thistlewood House series explores the queer love found by the quirky staff of this crumbling old museum. In these interconnected standalone novellas, you’ll find a lot of hurt/comfort and a spectrum of relationships, with a focus on trans and nonbinary folks. This story is an MM romance featuring a trans hero. For readers 18+.