Adam

Sixteen year old Adam is in France from England for a year with his parents; his father's work has assigned him there. Adam is a well behaved lad, with a great talent as a budding cellist, he also realises he is not interested in girls, he prefers boys. While in France he continues his education and gets on well enough with his French peers, but it is the twenty two year old farm labourer Sylvain who gets his attention. Handsome dark haired and tanned, Sylvan captures his heart; they fall in love and carry on s clandestine affair. But how will it all end? We follow Adam's exploits with Sylvan, their many adventures into the French countryside and their expressions and explicit demonstrations of love; and also Adam's interactions with his schoolmates in France and England. This is a delightful story, Adam is a very likeable boy, and he has some very loyal friends, Sylvain is equally likeable and quite innocent for his age. The writer appears to have a good knowledge of the locality and its flora, which comes over in the narrative. While it could be criticised for being a little too good to be true at times, it is nonetheless a very pleasurable read.

I'm not sure what exactly drew this book to my attention, but I'm glad to have found it. The prose in this book is excellent, descriptive and wise, it unfolds with a natural rhythm that patiently and skillfully builds the scene in each chapter and then turns it and the characters occupying it loose (the descriptions of the French countryside is enough to make one want to travel there, to explore the woods and meadows and see the wild daffodils in bloom). As if this wasn't enough, there is an undercurrent of irony in the writing, in the way the characters behave, that at once gently mocks the situations and characters and at the same time makes the turn of phrase that much more engaging. In effect, one comes away with the feeling that the author is not so much detailing imagined scenes as much as he is journaling vivid recollections, looking back with fond amusement on the escapades of youth. The back cover describes the book as a "passionate story of illicit romance and teenage angst" -- and while the angst is there, and is very real and heartfelt, it is always tempered by this adult perspective, so that it never gets out of hand, or seems mushy or silly. Overall, the book is extremely well-written, and the author's gently ironic style is enjoyable and refreshing.

The writing skills, artful plotting, and valid characterizations of the young men depicted in this novel are a cut above most coming of age novels. Adam's wide-eyed grasping for sexual experience and bonding are accurately and authentically displayed. He and Sylvain, after a short time for appraisal, rush headlong into love and are rewarded with more than they can handle. But no fake rainbows appear,and no happy endings ensue - the fairy dust never flies. The story is plausible, real, exciting, and the end will satisfy.