England between the two World Wars is a society bound by class and expectation, but the Hendersons’ household has straddled two worlds since Mr Henderson took Jim, the housekeeper’s son, under his wing and paid for his education. Peter, the eldest of the three Henderson children, grew up with Jim as his best friend and constant companion, although as he got older, he began to understand the realities of their different places in the world. When Jim unexpectedly wins a scholarship to Oxford, Peter is overjoyed at the thought that he won’t be forcibly separated from his boyhood companion after all. It feels as if fate wants them to be together.

Except that, when the boys go off to university, it is as if Jim becomes a different person. He doesn’t speak to Peter when they pass in the library; he holds himself apart to the point of unfriendliness, and Peter can’t begin to understand why. He feels the loss of his friend like a limb, when the man in place of the boy seems like a stranger. By the time two years have passed, Peter can no longer stand the tension between them, and when the summer vacation rolls around, he resolves to confront Jim and find out what went wrong, and whether their friendship can be salvaged.

But Jim is not the open book he once was, and Peter soon finds out he has secrets of his own. While the lines between their social classes may be blurring, there are other things that can’t be so easily cast in shades of grey. When Peter pushes Jim for answers, what is revealed – about Jim’s feelings, and ultimately Peter’s own – shakes him to the foundation. Especially because, however hard Jim may have tried to keep his unacceptable desires from corrupting Peter, it seems that Jim is not the only one who wants what he shouldn’t, and who wants his boyhood friend in a way the world would not accept.

Please Note: This book contains Adult Language & Steamy Adult Activities, it is intended for 18+ Adults Only. There is a "cliffhanger" at the end of "The Summer of Change" (Volume 1). Volume 2 is available free (linked in the book). This is a short story, approx. 10,000 words total.