Keeping Pace with Peace

Set at an all boys' high school in a picturesque Caribbean country, Keeping Pace with Peace is a daring tale of two teenage boys who become quick and close friends but struggle to understand their affections for each other. Alvin is a devastatingly handsome and gregarious all-around student, and Merrick, his best-friend, is a shy and introverted with self-esteem issues. The two are intractably drawn to each other but the social stigma around male affection in the country keeps them from connecting on any real emotional level. Punctuated with the inescapable vagaries of life, the novel tightly bobs and weaves through the two's final year of high school to show how even the most common desires like love and acceptance can at times be destructive.