A Pure and Honest Heart by Zambezi

This short eleven chapter tale of the love that grows between the seventeen year old Brad, the principled scholarship boy in his British boarding school who has risen to head of house and the new boy, thirteen year old Richard whose life has may be been more priveliged, but has certainly be less happy.

I always enjoy stories that, to my own mind at least, capture some of the essence of boarding school life, and this idealised but loving portrait with its small but carefully written cast of characters is a fine example of the genre.

It is a sad feature of the age we live in that the perception of relationships between two boys boys whose age difference  is such as described in this tale is much changed.  What was once disapproved of because it was homosexual but often dealt approached with sympathy, respect and may be a blind eye or a quiet chat has now, in some parts become a notifiable criminal offence, not because of the homosexuality, but because some societies have chosen to legislate all kinds of relationships, indeed all kinds of behaviour in general with inflexible, inhuman and unkind statutes that brook no circumstance and care not one jot for the hapless victims of their protection.

Read it at iomfats