Alone with the Germans: gay tales from Berlin and beyond

Even before Christopher Isherwood famously documented Berlin in the 1930s, the city attracted British gay men. It still does. Typically, Bill seeks sex, but what does friend-cum-lover Ben want? And although Joe wasn't looking for anything serious, will he take on Jens... and the kids? And after 27 years away from the Hauptstadt, does Sean truly have any chance of finding Thorsten again? Still, Berlin is not all of Germany and on the border between Bavaria and Thuringia Detlev provides an insight into what it was to fall foul of the former communist state. Yet, in Erfurt, John warms to Edgar, a stalwart of the old regime. And in Dresden Vernon and Johann begin a romance, but what have God and the artist Canaletto to do with it? Dance clubs, sex bars, saunas and underwear parties are in the mix. Yet, so are Bratwurst, dachshunds, love, happiness and the residue of the East German state. The British men in these stories find themselves alone with the Germans and must all make a decision - to stay or to go or, perhaps, something more drastic.