Joseph Asten, a young and rich farmer living in rural Pennsylvania, meets Julia Blessing, an equally rich woman from the city, at an evening party for young people. Soon they fall in love and get engaged in few months. Joseph’s nature is shy and sensitive while Julia is devious and cruel which Joseph discovers only after getting married.
Philip Held, a person Joseph meets in the train after a visit to Blessing family, is captivated by Joseph’s innocence. Joseph and Philip soon start to reciprocate their feelings and develops an intimate relationship.
The story builds up around Joseph, Julia and Philip which discusses about the nature and significance of romantic relationship between two men. Joseph and His Friend (1870) is deemed to be the first American gay novel.
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