Date of Award
Spring 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Program/Concentration
Creative Writing
Committee Director
John McManus
Committee Member
Jane Alberdeston
Committee Member
Kristi Costello
Abstract
In 1980, poor but smart Oliver Seymore is desperate to escape his hometown in South Florida. He won the only scholarship to the most private university on the east coast, his ticket into high society and away from his white trash parents. But after a disastrous first year, Oliver is disillusioned. At Deacon, the ultra-rich run free: rumors are currency and numbness is ecstasy. Trapped by the terms of his scholarship, he cannot afford to fail. When a coveted internship—his last chance at securing his future—is handed to Aurelian Beaumont, the aloof and impossibly charming son of a French diplomat who arrives midway through the semester, Oliver’s desperation turns outward.
What begins as resentment curdles into obsession. Aurelian moves through Deacon with effortless privilege, and Oliver finds himself drawn into his orbit — desperate for his attention, his approval, and something far more dangerous he can’t quite name. As Oliver pushes further into Aurelian’s world, the line between ambition, desire, and self-destruction begins to blur— with consequences that threaten to consume them both.
At its core, Foreign Bodies is a queer historical fiction novel about curiosity. Characters explore their relationships to sexuality, mentality and identity, as well as what happens when that curiosity gets pushed too far – bleeding into an all-encompassing obsession.
Rights
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.25777/wzdr-sw52
ISBN
9798197810205
Recommended Citation
Peluso, Helen F..
"Foreign Bodies: A Novel"
(2026). Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Thesis, , Old Dominion University, DOI: https://doi.org/10.25777/wzdr-sw52
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds/501