An evocative debut novel reflecting the
determination and resilience of a gay diaspora as it
faced extinction.
Beginning with a chance encounter in 1985, an
unnamed narrator embarks on a physical and spiritual
sojourn over four decades. From a one-night stand in
Paris with the troubled and enigmatic Louis; to
Montreal, through a divided Europe, and into the
Iranian desert with the sick yet determined Yuri; and
finally to Provence, where he meets the gregarious but
wistful Frank, the narrator encounters a cast of exiles,
fugitives, rebels, and artists. In a journey across
continents and decades, we watch the impacts of one
of the greatest health crises of the last hundred years
through the eyes of those who both survived it and
must now remember those who didn’t.
At once an odyssey through time and a love story to
the narrator’s found family, this haunting, lyrical novel
in five parts explores questions of grief, statelessness,
and memory and is a meditation on survival in the age
of AIDS.
