Sixteen-year-old Jason Peele and his Indian boyfriend Raj spend a lot of time debating the philosophy of the pacifist Gandhi and his teaching of nonviolence. Their disagreement on the subject is cause for much of the conflict in this really fine coming-of-age novel. Both young men are on their high school track team (where they meet) and both have been the target of harassment and/or violence because of their perceived sexual orientation. They have different ideas, however, of how to confront violence.

A SECRET EDGE-- from what the title means, to the well-developed characters to the plot-- is a book that high school students, both straight and gay as well as the confused, should read. It is instructive without being didactic. I am not sure that today's teenagers fully appreciate how far this country has come in the quest for rights for gay people. There was nothing that would have come close to this wonderful novel in my high school library.

Jason, who lost his parents when just a child, has a loving, sensitive Aunt Audrey. When he tells her he is gay, her response is simply "I know." His Uncle Steve is decent; his track coach is supportive (and you find out why). He also has a straight friend Robert whom he helps with his English assignments and another friend from the track team, Norm, who is struggling with his sexual orientation and plans to come out only when he is in college and away from his parents.

This novel is ultimately about honesty and the courage to be who you are as well as a sweet love story.