Mesmerized — Jonathan Fast

Antoine Dorn, 15, wants nothing more than to fall in love with the right man, be the valet of a gentleman, and feed his mind by stealing books from the manor house where he works as a stable boy, the lowliest of servants. His love life is a guarded secret for he lives in 18th century Vienna, a time when sex between men is punishable by hanging!Herr Doktor Franz Anton Mesmer, a pedant and blowhard, straighter than the straightest arrow, has just graduated from medical school. He yearns to be physician to the high and mighty, and find a place among the great doctors of history by discovering the cure for every illness, which he dubs Animal Magnetism.They meet by chance at a coffee house in Vienna on St. Bridgette's Day, 1767, and their lives become intertwined. They help, hinder, infuriate, and delight each other, create calamities and make peace, all in their search for the Secret of Human Health, Animal Magnetism!