Meet Randy Hale, outwardly the popular, young owner of Hale's Cafe in the village of Pepper Tree. But at twenty-four, Randy is already a long-time member of the homosexual world.
This taut, frankly sensual novel begins with Randy's frantic search for a male lover to replace his beloved Corky who has left Randy for the more exciting "gay" life of a large city. Randy's search for appeasement takes him down strange and dangerous pathways: a forbidden act in the washroom of a movie theater…daring sexual encounters with George Nelson, an older married man…nights of mental and emotional anguish.
Then Randy's entire life is transformed by the new shape of passion he finds in the arms of vivacious, dominating Ruth Landers. Immediately, Randy is intoxicated with Ruth's overwhelming response and shortly after their first ecstatic taste of love they are married. So desperate is Randy to prove that he can lead a "normal" life, he forces himself to ignore the facts that Ruth is eight years older than he is, a woman vitally concerned with forging ahead in her own career, and most of all, that she is utterly unaware of his active homosexual past. The brief return of Corky signals the beginning of the most severe test in Randy's life. His relationship with his wife becomes in every way, a Strange Marriage.
How Randy meets this test and the explosive results of his attempt to reconcile his love for Ruth with his active enjoyment of the fiery caresses of young, sensitive David Noyes are both recounted in brutally honest, unflinching detail.
More than a searching probe into the secret homosexual life in a small town or the secrets of the married homosexual, Strange Marriage also takes the reader through a breathless series of nerve-rending suspense and adventure sequences. Driving emotions, fast-paced action, and vividly described sensuality make Strange Marriage one of the most vibrant and outspoken novels to appear in many years.
Strange Marriage
