''The Harness Room'' is a 1971 novel by the British writer

L.P. Hartley Leslie Poles Hartley (30 December 1895 – 13 December 1972) was a British novelist and short story writer. Although his first fiction was published in 1924, his career was slow to take off. His best-known novels are the '' Eustace and Hilda'' ...

. A retired

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about to remarry decides that his seventeen-year-old son needs toughening up and while away on his honeymoon has his

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, an ex-

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to instruct him in boxing and other sports in the harness room. The two men come to develop a bond. Concerned about the reception of a book that was more explicitly homosexual in theme than his earlier works, Hartley insisted to his publisher that it was done "in a more discreet manner than it is in many modern novels". Hartley considered that "I actually took more trouble over ''The Harness Room'' than any of my novels".Wright, p. 249.

References

Bibliography

* Wright, Adrian. ''Foreign Country: The Life of L.P. Hartley''. I. B. Tauris, 2001. 1971 British novels Novels by L. P. Hartley Hamish Hamilton books 1970s LGBT novels {{1970s-LGBT-novel-stub