The Charioteer

The Charioteer

After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans’ hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance. Then one day, Ralph Lanyon, a mentor from Laurie’s schoolboy days, suddenly reappears in Laurie’s life, and draws him into a tight-knit social circle of world-weary gay men. Laurie is forced to choose between the sweet ideals of innocence and the distinct pleasures of experience. <br><br>Originally published in the United States in 1959, <b>The Charioteer</b> is a bold, unapologetic portrayal of male homosexuality during World War II that stands with Gore Vidal’s <b>The City and the Pillar</b> and Christopher Isherwood’s <b>Berlin Stories</b> as a monumental work in gay literature.