Surpassing the Love of Women

The story is set in the last quarter of the twentieth century, before the AIDS epidemic, before the internet, when fax was cutting edge technology and in the very early days of the mobile phone network. The Camford colleges were adjusting to becoming co-educational with all the upheavals and resistance that that caused. David Scarborough, a bright self-confident 18-year-old goes up to St Boniface's College in Camford University to read Chemistry. He sings in the college chapel choir, plays basketball and is very religious. He meets a chemistry PhD student called Jonathan and the two become fast friends. Jonathan is a computer expert, cultured, lonely, wealthy, gay and an atheist. David is unsure of his sexuality, but sure of his religious beliefs. After six months of friendship, the two realize that they are in love. The book chronicles the development of their relationship over the four years of David's undergraduate course. Under Jon's guidance, David's knowledge of life matures and develops. There is a lot of sexual activity, as you would expect from two young men. David gets an interest in singing and considers changing his career from science to music. Jon gets banned from teaching undergraduates because of his relationship with David. He sets up two charitable foundations to promote afforestation and drystone wall repair and has to travel to identify target sites and needs to hire staff. He decides to convert an old barn into a house in the countryside for him and David to live in. After finishing his PhD he works on the building site with the contractors for 9 months before starting his postdoctoral work. The boys do a lot of travelling in Europe with regular visits to Holland and the south of France, where Jon's mother lives. The book ends at the end of the summer in which David gets a first class degree.