The charioteer
Subtitle: a novel
By: Mary Renault.
Edition: 1st Vintage Books ed.
Publisher: Vintage Books
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 347
Subjects: World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans -- Fiction.; Conscientious objectors -- Fiction.; Veterans' hospitals -- Fiction.; Gay men -- Fiction.; England -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: 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.