It's the summer of 1967 and the Sexual Offences Act has just decriminalized consensual gay sex in private between two men over twenty-one. Percy Wright and his friend Les Baker have both taken temporary jobs teaching English as a foreign language in London during their long summer break from teaching at a rural boarding school near Oxford. Percy is keen to soak up some theatre, music, and general culture, whilst Les is also keen to experience the varied gay social scene. When Les picks up a man called Phil at the box office of the Albert Hall when he goes to buy tickets to a Promenade Concert, Percy inadvertently gets thrown together with Adrian Framlingham, Phil’s friend. Adrian is all the things Percy likes in a man -- funny, kind and steady. When Les gets hurt, Percy turns to Adrian for support, but as the end of the summer looms it seems as if their affair will come to a natural end. What will happen when Percy goes back to his everyday life as a house-master? Will he and Adrian stay in touch? Does he even want a long-distance relationship when arranging to meet someone for sex is still illegal, even if the act itself is not? Trigger warning: A secondary character suffers an off-screen sexual assault.

Eight Acts

He could hear the grin in his own voice, too. He stood up. “I’ll wash up, shall I? You cooked.”


He glanced at Adrian as he did so and caught his eye by accident. They both suppressed smiles as Adrian got up to help him dry.


The rest of the afternoon was lazy. They were both tired. They retreated to the comfortable settee and fell asleep in front of the telly watching The Importance of Being Earnest.The settee was wide enough for them to stretch out side by side and Percy dozed off with Adrian’s legs entwined with his, Adrian’s head on his chest, and their arms wrapped around each other. It was octopus-like and very cosy.


They were woken at dinner time by the phone. “Lucy,”Adrian mouthed at Percy through the door from the living room to the hallway. Percy had given her the phone number this morning. Adrian gave a thumbs up sign…presumably indicating they had arrived home safely. Percy listened to him take the call.


Chapter 20