Book Title: A Particular Friendship
Author: Paul Van der Spiegel
Publisher: Perceptions Press
Cover Artist: Paul Van der Speigel
Release Date: November 28, 2021
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Boy meets boy, loses boy, gets boy back again
Themes: Religion and being gay, coming out as an older man
Length: 62 000 words/ 225 pages
It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Tom Morton is a gay Catholic priest whose lover comes back into his life leading to a confrontation with a powerful bishop.
Blurb
The story has two timelines. In the odd-numbered chapters we meet Tom, an isolated fifty-year old parish priest of St. James’ Church, a Jesuit-built church in a northern English town. Tom is an in-the-closet gay man in an increasingly intolerant Catholic Church, an organisation that defines homosexuality as inherently disordered with traditionalist elements blaming incidents of child sex abuse on an underground ‘pink mafia’. Antony, the only man Tom has ever fallen in love with, the man he abandoned thirty-years earlier, arrives in church to ask Tom to provide the Sacrament of the Sick to his dying mother.
In the second timeline, the even numbered chapters, we see Tom from childhood through to his ordination as a priest. As Tom grows into adolescence the confusion begins: he has experiences with girls, as well as burgeoning romantic and sexual feelings for his friend, Antony. After they sleep together for the first time, as the pressure to conform to a heterosexual society reaches fever-pitch, Tom abandons his lover and flees to the Church. At Ash Burrow seminary, Tom finds acceptance, a masculine culture, and other gay men like himself.
The novel has three sections. The first section describes Tom meeting Antony again after decades apart, the rekindling of their relationship, and how history repeats itself with Tom siding with the Church against his love. In the second timeline, we see Tom’s childhood, and the repercussions of the tragic car accident that kills his father and brother.
The second section describes Toms emotional collapse and the deterioration of his mental health until he reaches the point where he is actively suicidal. In contrast, we see Tom’s teenage-self approaching life with a sense of potential. The section ends with Tom coming out to his congregation and informing them that he is HIV positive and has been for twenty years.
In the third section, Tom is sacked, and St. James church is closed and put up for sale. Tom is also dealing with the scars of a violent sexual assault suffered whilst he was a seminarian at Ash Burrow – the perpetrator, Derek Worrell, is now the Bishop of Preston. In the second timeline, we see Tom’s life at the seminary, his romances, his appreciation of the structure of the Church, and the horrific incident that changes his life forever.
The story reaches its close with a group of gay Catholic priests standing with Tom against the bishop and the diocese. Antony proposes to Tom in a crowded railway station, and they prepare to begin their lives together.
‘Would you like a dessert… I’ve got a Mint Vienetta in the fridge.’
Rosie burst out laughing, ‘That’s so fucking eighties, fucking Vienetta.’
‘It’s making a comeback,’ Tom said, getting up. ‘It’s on deal at a pound in Morrisons!’
‘You’re funny.’
‘You want some?’
‘Yeah, why not.’
‘I reckon Vienetta is humankind’s greatest achievement,’ Tom said, opening the freezer door. ‘Never mind splitting the atom, getting to the moon, or finding cures for terrible diseases, layering ice cream and chocolate together in a frozen dessert is mindboggling!’
Rosie had her fist in her mouth to try to control her laughter.
A knock came from the front door.
‘Do you want me to go?’ Rosie said.
‘Not on your nelly,’ Tom said, putting a bowl and spoon in front of her. ‘Get that down you, and I’ll be right back.’
‘Hello,’ Antony said, as Tom opened the door.
‘Hello.’
‘Is this an inconvenient time… I could come back…’
‘No, come in. It’s good to see you.’
Tom led Antony into the kitchen.
‘Antony, Rosie. Rosie, Antony.’
‘Hi,’ Antony said, taking off his scarf and hat.
‘Hellomm,’ Rosie said, as she ate her ice cream.
‘Can I get you a drink?’ Tom said.
‘Sure, expresso, two shots, please,’ Antony said.
Tom raised his eyebrows and Antony smirked.
Rosie was watching. ‘Get a room, you two,’ she said.
‘It’s nothing like that,’ Tom said, ‘really. Is it Antony?’
‘It’s nothing like that,’ Antony said. ‘Really.’
‘Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t bother me. You look nice together, two older men. Thank you for the food, Father Morton, I’ll be on my way.’
‘Would you like something to take with you, some water, snacks, erm…’
‘Do you have any more of that pie, it was… well, delicious?’
‘Of course, I would be more than happy to oblige.’
‘Do you have anywhere to sleep, tonight, Rosie?’ Antony asked.
‘I’ll try my luck outside the railway station.’
‘Wait, please,’ Antony said, as he pulled out his wallet. ‘Here’s fifty. Get yourself a room for tonight.’
‘Thank you,’ Rosie said, ‘you’ve both been really kind.’
‘Don’t forget your phone,’ Tom said.
‘You don’t remember me, do you?’
‘I’m really sorry, I don’t.’
‘Bye bye, Thomas Morton.’
After letting Rosie out through the front door of the rectory, Tom slumped into his chair in the kitchen.
‘Is it always like this?’ Antony asked.
‘You shouldn’t have given her that cash,’ Tom said. ‘It’s a risk.’
‘You shouldn’t have given her that pie.’
Tom laughed, then he rubbed his face.
‘You remember that jogger by the canal, the day we went for a walk.’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘It was who I thought it was, and after mass, today—in a roundabout way—the guy called me a paedophile.’
‘For going for a walk with me?’
‘No, for hi-fiving his son. He’s an altar-server.’
‘You need to be careful, no physical contact.’
‘What kind of world are we living in?’
‘One where adults who have access to children need to abide by the strictest of codes… Come on, Tom, you know the conduct of some of the filth infesting your church. You know the appalling way the investigations were handled, protecting abusive priests, hushing up the damage done to innocents.’
‘We’re not all like that.’
‘No, but that’s what protective parents are going to think.’
‘Listen, Danny is… I can see myself in him at that age, is what I mean to say.’
‘How old is he?’
‘Eleven.’
‘You need to stay out of this, Tom. It won’t end well.’
‘I know. I don’t need you to tell me that.’
At that moment, Tom wanted a cuddle and a kiss more than anything in the whole world.
Antony put his hand on top of Tom’s,
‘You know what you need to do to help all the Danny’s in this world, don’t you Tom?’
‘Yes,’
‘So, why don’t you do it?’
‘Because…’
When Antony dragged his chair over and drew him into an embrace, Tom did not resist.
I am the author of the Queer Testament series (Trans Deus – about a trans woman Christ, 7 Minutes – about coming out at the point of death, Parably Not – an illuminated book in the tradition of William Blake, and A Particular Friendship- a story about a gay Catholic priest who finds himself in conflict with his sexuality and his Church). My stories are about the intersection of faith and sexuality. I am a Will Blake obsessive and I’m working on new material based on his themes of sex and gender fluidity, revelation and rebellion. I love reading (Alan Garner, Alan Moore, Susan Cooper, Ballard, and PK Dick especially). I live in Manchester, England.
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