Oscar Orland

The Good Son Oscar Orland

"Oh, what a tragic web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." London in the 1980s. Billy, aged forty, is lonely and closeted. He lives with Agnes, to whom he is a dutiful son. She is unaware of his sexual orientation. Billy has no success with gay partners until he unexpectedly meets the younger, highly desirable Carl. The two fall in love and form a passionate, sexually fulfilling relationship, much to Agnes's homophobic chagrin. She disowns her only son and orders him from her house. Exciting new vistas open for Billy when he moves in with the sexually uninhibited Carl and is launched onto the buzzing London gay scene. All is perfect until both men meet temptations in the shape of handsome, sexually charismatic actor, Tony, and lusty cockney lad, Ted, with whom they form sexual liaisons that they keep secret from each other. They both believe that they can have their cake and eat it as a web of deception weaves around them, from which escape seems impossible. As the decade proceeds, AIDS rears its ugly head, adding complex and tragic strands to the web. Will the web be broken, to allow the victims to escape?