This is the print-on-demand (POD) version in black and white only. Out of Bounds is the story of the slow emergence of a man, strictly schooled for conformity, frustrated by limits, searching for his place in the world and hunting for variety, fulfilment, adventure and sexual freedom Amidst the privileges and successes of school and Oxford, he agonises about the purpose of life, his worth and his sexual identity. He finds inspiration in the company of young Scottish delinquents in a residential school, reverts to type in his first full-time job as an adult, then changes direction to retrain and work as a probation officer with drug-takers and prostitutes on the streets of Sheffield. His first three decades end in a remote and idyllic farmhouse in deepest Kent, with work in the kitchen of a posh village restaurant, six months as a farm labourer, and a new job, more in line with his qualifications Gifted, sociable and restless, it takes twenty-seven years for Bruce to come to terms with his identity as a gay man during a period when stigma and discrimination were still powerful. He finds liberation and acceptance, but much of his life and work remain an expression of sublimated sexuality, giving him an energy and intensity that might otherwise have been diluted. His struggle to break bounds, to fly from time to time, unique in its detail, is commonplace in its essence for the many, many people who dream of a different life. The book has a lively and dynamic style, a cast of interesting characters, and a vivid account of life for a talented but often unhappy middle-class child in post-war Britain through the turbulent sixties and into the seventies.
About the Author: With some strong underlying themes and patterns, Bruce's life has been an experimental journey through a variety of jobs, relationships and places. He has been a school teacher, probation officer, smallholder, university lecturer (in the UK and Thailand), PR professional, businessman running his own consultancy and now, for many years, an international communications consultant and teacher in healthcare and patient safety. He has taught all over the world and written a handful of books, including literary criticism, sociology and law, probation practice, job-interview skills, biography, healthcare communications and crisis management. He has had two long-term relationships with partners who died in their early thirties from AIDS. In 2002 he emigrated to Thailand, and he has homes in Sweden and Oxford. In 2004 he was injured, and narrowly escaped death, in the Asian tsunami.