The provocative novel The Pelican Fables is a coming-of-age story about a young man who learns to confront his sexuality in a conservative all-boys prep school. Carter Moran is a handsome new faculty member at Melbourne Prep, the Melbourne Preparatory School for Boys. After obtaining his master's degree, Carter has accepted a one-year teaching position at Melbourne before he is to begin a fellowship at Harvard University. But amidst the conservatively charged atmosphere of the Melbourne School, Carter begins to come to terms with his sexual identity - an awakening made more difficult by the close relationship that develops between Carter and Adam Proffit, one of the school's most promising students whom Carter suspects may be secretly attracted to him. While Carter tries in earnest to keep his relationship with Adam at arm's length, this is complicated by Adam's increasingly bold advances. Carter is torn between coming to terms with himself, maintaining the integrity of the teacher-student relationship, and fearing that he will either lead Adam on or break his heart in the process. After the friendship that develops between Carter and Adam crosses the line, the futures for which they have worked so hard hang in the balance as their fates are decided by a less than understanding school administration. At a school that prides itself on forging great leaders from the young men who go there, Carter and Adam are forced to decide who they want to become - a decision that will change their lives forever.
