London, 2002. When Almir, a twenty-one-year-old Kosovan ex-boy soldier, is relocated to London with a new identity, flashbacks undermine his ability to keep his job as a street sweeper. Then he meets Roland, a forty-year-old British Jamaican, a Council surveyor trying to escape his Pentecostal upbringing, and failed relationship with Shirl with whom he has a fifteen-year-old son.
Roland and Almir become closer as Roland offers first friendship, then sex, yet Almir remains secretive about his past, and struggles to identify as gay, forcing Roland to question their relationship. And who is Muzzafer, the name Almir repeatedly shouts out during frequent nightmares? As tension builds, Almir confronts his involvement in a war atrocity, which threatens to destabilise his sanity and his new UK life.
But, against all these powerful obstacles, Almir and Roland’s love for each other continues to grow. Is it strong enough to last?
Street Sweeper by Bren Gosling was published on 28 March 2026 by Troubador. My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours virtual book tour.
Set in a vividly rendered early-2000s London, the story moves between the grey streets that Almir sweeps and the more intimate, often tense domestic spaces that Roland inhabits. The city itself feels like a living presence and reflects the emotional isolation and quiet hope of these two men.
Almir is an unforgettable character. Still so young, yet carrying the unbearable weight of his past, his character is written with a tenderness that never slips into sentimentality. His trauma seeps into every part of his life, particularly through the haunting flashbacks and the mystery surrounding Muzzafer. There’s a fragility to him that makes his struggle with identity, most especially his difficulty in naming and accepting his sexuality, feel painfully real.
Roland is older, grounded, yet equally conflicted. His attempt to step away from his Pentecostal upbringing adds another layer to the narrative. His relationship with his son, his history with Shirl, and his own internalised struggles around sexuality make him far more than just a counterpoint to Almir. He is a man caught between worlds, just as much as Almir is.
The exploration of gay love here is handled with care and honesty. This is not a sweeping, romanticised love story; instead, it is complicated, and at times deeply frustrating. The imbalance in experience and self-acceptance between the two men creates a tension that runs throughout the novel. Roland offers connection and openness, while Almir retreats, guarded and uncertain. It’s this push and pull that gives their relationship its authenticity.
What stands out most is how the novel weaves together themes of identity, trauma, faith, and belonging without ever feeling over complicated. Almir’s past as a child soldier is never sensationalised, yet its impact is profound and always there. The question of whether love can survive such weight is at the heart of the story, and it is handled confidently.
It’s a book that makes you stop to consider things and I found myself thinking about Almir and Roland often when I wasn’t reading.
A powerful, affecting novel that explores the complexities of love and identity with sensitivity and depth.
Bren Gosling, an alumnus of City University’s Novel Studio, is published in numerous
anthologies, and was a finalist of the London, Brighton and Exeter Short Story Prizes. Street Sweeper won the Novel London Literary Prize in 2021, and the inaugural Book Edit Writer’s Prize for under-represented writers.
The novel was shortlisted for the New Anglia Manuscript Prize in 2023. Bren’s plays have garnered two Offies nominations, and an ONComm Commendation. His latest play, Invisible Me starring Tessa Peake Jones will be at the Southwark Playhouse April 8th - May 2nd.
Bren explains: “My writing explores the narratives of quiet lives, extraordinarily lived, marginalised voices of overlooked people and places. A member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have researched the experiences of being a gay first generation British Jamaican man, through interviews; I spent time in a Pentecostal church. I interviewed Kosovan immigrants to the U.K as well as the head of department of Albanian
Studies at University of London to better understand Albanian culture and recent history. I shadowed a street sweeper at Walthamstow Cleansing Depot. What interests me is bringing untold stories to life by creating fictional narratives. This has been my focus in writing STREET SWEEPER.
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