The homosexual theme in The Stranger's Child

As you might expect, Alan Hollinghust's novel "The Stranger's Child" does get more explicit about sexuality as the first section, Two Acres, moves along - for the first 50 pages or so I thought I was reading a novel written in 1910, not just set in 1910, but eventually Cecil and George begin talking about "cunts" and then engage in pretty aggressive sex (which Hollinghurst decribes more by indirection, not nearly as graphic and explicit as the sex in the park at the opening of his excellent novel The Line of Beauty). I'm not sure what themes he is developing, aside from the very familiar British theme of social class in conlfict at a country estate - the sexuality is definitely central: sometimes when I read a novel about homosexuality I wonder how it would be different, or how my reaction would be different, if the novel were about heterosexuality. In this novel, in part I'm thinking that if the relations were heterosexual there would be no novel at all - the main theme Hollinghurst seems to be working is the enforced shame and furtiveness that the characters have to endure because they are homo- rather than herero sexual; the sister, Daphne, seems completely oblivious of the sexual attraction between her brother George and Cecil, and even George himself seems unaware that his older brother, Hubert, is homosexual as well. I believe the novel covers a long span of time, and it will be interesting to see how the characters and their behavior change, if at all, as homosexuality becomes less of a taboo and more of a reasonably accepted norm - if it does.