The Moralist
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The Moralist is a novel by Rod Downey. The Moralist is a serious story about a forbidden and taboo love between and adult and a child. Downey sets out the current emotional, political and legal dilemmas for a caregiver of a boy in need of a male role model and the problems in having an intimate relationship that is not abusive.
[edit] Plot
Red Rover is a Public Relations specialist who volunteers for a creative writing program and ends up mentoring a twelve-year-old boy called Jonathan. Red is a caring and thoughtful individual and starts to fall in love with the young boy.
Red loves boys and has to watch his paedophile friends lives get destroyed one after another. Downey describes how some of the mentors do molest the children. He also describes how Jonathan’s family reacts to his relationship with their son.
Red himself is lucky and is not persecuted for his relationship. He does, however, come to the defence of his friends in public. He sacrifices his own life for his moral belief that he and his friends are not evil and shouldn't be persecuted for their caring relationships with boys.
The story ends with Jonathan writing about his love and appreciation for the Red's non-abusive and positive role in his life.
