Paul M. Pare

Singing the Vernacular: a Novel Paul M. Pare

Marc Ladouceur thought he wanted to become a Catholic priest. His mother, his Aunt the Nun, and his pastor knew he should be one. Marc was in constant battle with his erections, especially around the other boys in the seminary. He hated himself for being a sissy; he wished he could be more like the deacon with the hockey-player build. Marc has spent his adult life looking at men, but he's never had any. His first sexual encounter at age sixteen still haunts him. The deacon was not that much older; and they were together just once, the night Marc was stranded by a fierce Canadian snowstorm. Fighting job boredom and grieving the loss of his wife of twenty-five years, Marc embarks on a desert road trip that will push him out of his depression and out of the closet. At a Palm Springs resort, he confronts the gay lifestyle he has denied himself. A coming-of-age story, Singing the Vernacular weaves through the guilt of an adolescent boy who knows he's "different" and the confusion of a middle-age, closeted man.