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Baldwin’s ground-breaking second novel, which established him as one of the great American writers of his time

‘Audacious… remarkable… elegant and courageous’ Caryl Phillips

David, a young American in 1950s Paris, is waiting for his fiancee to return from vacation in Spain. But when he meets Giovanni, a handsome Italian barman, the two men are drawn into an intense affair. After three months David’s fiancee returns and, denying who he is, he rejects Giovanni for a ‘safe’ future as a married man. It is a decision that will bring tragedy.

‘Exquisite, a feat of fire-breathing, imaginative daring’ Guardian

‘Gorgeous, fearless, tempered by dark knowledge and pain … the greatest American prose stylist of his generation’ Colm Toibin

‘A layered exploration of queer desire … It is electric’ Hilton Als