Overview

From the best-selling author of How To Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee's award-winning debut is "one of the great queer novels... of our time" (Brandon Taylor, GQ)

"Every word makes me ache... Written with exquisite empathy and grace."  -  Roxane Gay

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean-American boy growing up in Maine whose powerful soprano voice wins him a place as section leader of the first sopranos in his local boy's choir. But when, on a retreat, Fee discovers how the director treats the boys he makes section leader, he is so ashamed, he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter, Fee's best friend, is in line to be next. The director is eventually arrested, and Fee tries to forgive himself for his silence. But when Peter takes his own life, Fee blames only himself.

"Incomparable... because of its bravery, its wisdom, its vitality, and because it's a novel that never stops haunting."  -  Junot Díaz

Years later, after he has carefully pieced a new life together, Fee takes a job at a private school near his hometown. There he meets a young student, Arden, who, to his shock, is the picture of Peter - and the son of his old choir director.

"A coming-of-age novel in the grand Romantic tradition, where passions run high, Cupid stalks Psyche, and love shares the dance floor with death... A lovely, nuanced, never predictable portrait of a creative soul in the throes of becoming."  - Washington Post Book World

Told with "the force of a dream and the heft of a life" (Annie Dillard), this is a haunting, lyrically written debut novel that marked Chee "as a major talent whose career will bear watching" (Publisher's Weekly).