In 1979, 14-year-old Vincent Harris moves to a new town with his mother and father, who’s a preacher. Vincent has spent years praying to God to take away his feelings of attraction to other boys, but so far God has not seen fit to do so. Vincent knows with certainty that he’s gay and fears he’s bound for Hell. Then he meets Robert Ingle and falls in love, and Vincent becomes certain that God has answered his prayers—just not in the way he had always expected He would. In his debut, Hardy does an admirable job juggling a number of very delicate issues while telling a compelling story. This short, gentle romance manages to be sensual while remaining age-appropriate. It challenges received interpretations of the Judeo-Christian God’s teachings on homosexuality without approaching preachiness. Its characters, most of whom might appear stereotypical at first (charismatic preacher, effeminate gay boy), never act less than realistically. This should find a place in most young-adult collections. (Fiction. YA)
