Renault affect his life personally . Back in 1976 when Mendelsohn was fifteen years old he wrote to Renault who was living in South Africa with her partner Julie Mullard. They corresponded through letters for years until Mary Renault’s death in 1983. Mendelsohn’s letters were a part of the thousands of letters people would send to Renault. He and some the other people who wrote letters came out as being gay to Renault. Unlike today, there really was not anything for a gay or lesbian person to identify or connect with. In The American Boy the author expressed how difficult it was for him as a gay teenager. “Pop music meant nothing to me, since all the songs were about boys wanting girls or girls wanting boys; neither did the Y.A. novels I’d