The straight and narrow

Ashley Cowger
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:46:34 PDT

"The Straight and Narrow is a novel about a young man struggling with the disconnect between his fundamentalist Christian upbringing and his repressed homosexuality. Timothy Bannister's father has a heart attack and dies two weeks after discovering that Timothy is gay. When Timothy comes home for the funeral, he is forced to confront his doubt about whether homosexuality is wrong, like his father always taught him to believe. As Timothy reconnects with his friends and family from back home he must deal with his mother, who is unexpectedly happy about her husband's death and who implores Timothy to drop out of school so he can move home and take care of her. Adding to the confusion is Timothy's sister, who doesn't believe in God or her late father's values, and his old friend Charles, who was once a rebel but who recently graduated from seminary and urges Timothy to get on the 'right' path, too. Timothy is torn between his desire to do what's right, his reservations about what that even is, and his longing for a person he was taught it's wrong to love"--Leaf iii