The Moralist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Moralist is a novel by Rod Downey. Downey has described it as autobiographical fiction [1] and has said that he was influenced by governmental responses to the Rind Report. The Moralist is a story about a forbidden and taboo love between and adult and a child.
[edit] Plot
Richard 'Red' Rover is a 50-year old Public Relations consultant who volunteers for a creative writing program and ends up mentoring a twelve-year-old boy called Jonathan Frame. Red falls in love with the young boy. Over a period of eighteen months, he grooms the boy. He wins the trust of the boy's parents and friends and becomes a part of the family. He takes him out outings, buys him presents, takes photographs of him and eventually offers to pay for orthodontic dental work.
Red is a self-confessed boylover and has had sexual relationships with a number of boys. Eventually the deep friendship between man and boy develops into a sexual relationship when the boy is aged thirteen.
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 career for his moral belief that he and his friends are not evil and shouldn't be persecuted for their loving relationships with boys. After submitting himself to a hostile TV interview, he is investigated by the police and Jonathan is also interrogated. They both deny any that any sexual activities took place.
The story ends with Jonathan writing about his appreciation for Red's role in his life.
