Out of bounds

From LibraryThing:

Graham Curtis is handsome, gay, in his late twenties and teaches French at a boys’ school; he is a dedicated and popular teacher; he is also a keen and active sportsman and cricketer. Stephen Hill is a seventeen year student preparing for his A level exams, a pleasant, unassuming well brought up good looking lad with shaggy blond hair; he too is a keen sportsman and an able cricketer; he is unsure of his sexual preference. Following a good humoured classroom encounter, student and master engage in conversation during which Graham is impressed by his student’s maturity and wit, Stephen with his master’s perception and understanding; so the beginnings of friendship are formed, and eventually a deep love affair. They regularly play cricket together for a local club, and it is while on a cricket tour that they consummate their love.

However it is not all plain sailing at a time when the age of sexual consent in England for homosexuals is twenty one years. Graham, very aware of his responsibilities, wants to play it safe, while Stephen, having discovered the delights of a gay relationship, and with the sexual drive of youth, finds it hard to hold back. During the lovers’ period of abstention Stephen also becomes involved with a fellow student, a delightful and happy blond youth with choir boy looks, Richard, with whom he also falls in love.

Graham understandingly accepts Stephen’s relationship with Richard, while offering Stephen the promise that they can eventually be together once Stephen finishes his exams. They not only have to suffer this self imposed restriction on their relationship, but also have to contend with a jealous and revengeful jilted former lover of Graham’s, and Stephen’s staunchly religious and narrow minded parents. The former, in an attempt to win Graham back, resorts to blackmail, the latter to imprisoning Stephen in his room in addition to subjecting him to threats from the local priest. The lovers manage to overcome the many obstacles they encounter in one way or another, but when matters come to the threat of pubic exposure, Graham escapes to France. Who now of their many friends can they trust? Can the two lovers ever achieve their desire to be together? Will Stephen’s growing attachment to the very perceptive and fun loving Richard win out over the older Graham?

This is a very beautiful love story, and that I am not a cricket fan nor understand the game in no way affected my enjoyment, even with the occasional match descriptions. The main characters are thoroughly appealing, and they have some very loyal and understanding friends. I did find the narrative at times a little impersonal, and occasionally the dialogue seemed stilted. By contrast, Bill from the cricket club comes over as larger than life and having a great sense of humour, and many of the conversations between Graham and Stephen are enchanting. While the two lovers do not have an easy time, there is none of the frustrating negativity often encountered in such stories, and the outcome of this very moving illicit tale is heart-warmingly positive.