On Loving Josiah /

Growing up in Cambridge, England, protagonist Josiah Horatio Nelson has the cards stacked against him. Though his parents (who met in a psychiatric hospital) try to provide him with a loving home, their unusual child-rearing lead narrow-minded child protection authorities to remove him and send him to a series of foster parents until the sensitive and lonely boy eventually ends up in a government-run children's home. More comfortable with trees than people, Josiah convinces socially awkward Cambridge professor Thomas Marius to become his Latin tutor. A loving relationship develops between them and Josiah (now 15) and Thomas sneak away for an educational trip to Italy. Upon their return, they are met by authorities who view the connection between them as criminal and exploitative. Despite many quotes from Latin poetry, reflections on the morality of the Greeks, and dense passages on beauty, desire, and other heady issues tackled by the ancients, Fane's deft use of metaphor and inclusion of domestic details keep the narrative flowing smoothly. Far more than creating a tale of pedophilic scandal, Fane (God's Apology) unearths thorny moral ambiguities, forcing the reader to consider circumstances in which the unthinkable may be the only sound option. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.