Giovanni's Room

Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, this title presents a story of a fated love triangle that explores the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity. One of the BBC''s ''100 Novels That Shaped Our World''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''Exquisite, a feat of fire-breathing, imaginative daring'' Guardian David, a young American in 1950s Paris, is waiting for his fiancée 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 fiancée returns and, denying his sexuality, he rejects Giovanni for a ''safe'' future as a married man — a decision that will bring tragedy, longing and regret. ''Gorgeous, fearless, tempered by dark knowledge and pain . . the greatest American prose stylist of his generation'' Colm Tóibín ''A layered exploration of queer desire . . It is electric'' Hilton Als