{ it's been years since you've been here. }

[delga]

So. Does anyone know of any novels that show age variant relationships in a positive way? And by that I mean: in which the older of the couple is not exposed as a paedophile, and (preferably) in which the younger of the two is past their mid-teens (18+). Anyone?

I know that fandom takes a rather spread attitude to this stuff. There are people who ship age-variant characters (in what tends to be a destructive way) and that's not really what I'm interested in. (Admittedly, those portions of fandom also tend to focus on the sexual aspect of the relationships and, again, that's not what I'm looking for). Abuse is not my bag, guys. I'm interested in novels/literature in which the relationship is successful, or in which the failure of the relationship would have come about regardless of the two people's ages. Kind of like in Prime which is an interesting example, actually, because the woman is older, the age difference (on screen) doesn't come off as quite so spread, and the relationship does end (partially) due to the age difference, but in an amicable way.

Anyone? Do people even understand what it is that I'm asking?

edit: I think Y Tu Mama También sort of fits, actually, but again, older woman! Has anyone seen Malèna? Again, older woman, but this time adolescents; not really an example of what I mean. (I am sensing a trend here, which begs an interesting question about male-female power dynamics.) Parts of Hallam Foe may be more appropriate, but I haven't seen that.

edit ii: Can involve same-sex relationships, too.