On Loving Josiah

Josiah Horatio Nelson is born to unusual parents who met in a psychiatric hospital. The authorities are reprehensive of his unconventional upbringing and eventually remove Josiah from his parents' care. He is sent to a home where he finds little comfort, until he is befriended by his Latin tutor. Their friendship is the only bright spot in Josiah's life, until an educational field trip brings accusations of molestation. Olivia Fane's novel is by turns witty, angry, erudite, and touching, and explores modern attitudes to love in all its forms- and the dark side of its obsession with pedophilia and child abuse. "Fane's deft use of metaphor and inclusion of domestic details keep the narrative flowing smoothly. Far more than creating a tale of pedophilic scandal, Fane (God's Apology) unearths thorny moral ambiguities, forcing the reader to consider circumstances in which the unthinkable may be the only sound option."-Publishers Weekly