 Shaw wrote The Christening , his only novel , in 1975 . It centres around Miles Madgwick , who believes that he is bisexual but is too timid to find out through physical intercourse , so he instead describes his most intimate thoughts in his diary . He then meets a married woman named Alice and her son , Rodney ; he comes to identify with Rodney 's childhood innocence , and in Alice sees a symbol both of his mother and a heterosexual lover . Alice starts to tire of her husband and grow fonder of Madgwick , who experiences mixed emotions in his continued interactions with her and Rodney . One night , Rodney stays overnight at Madgwick 's house and , when he takes the boy home in a taxicab , the driver observes their strange behaviour and accuses Madgwick of being a pederast . When Alice asks Madgwick to become the godfather to her new child , the driver threatens to expose Madgwick , creating a conflict between losing his first feelings of intimacy with others or facing humiliation and ridicule at the driver 's exposure . 
