A striking deluxe edition of James Baldwin’s groundbreaking novel that was decades ahead of its
time with its frank exploration of sexuality and self-acceptance—named one of The Atlantic ’s
Great American Novels of the past 100 years “Baldwin writes . . . with unusual candor and
yet with such dignity and intensity.”— The New York Times Includes a new introduction by
award-winning poet Kevin Young and special cover art featuring a portrait of James Baldwin by
his friend and contemporary Beauford Delaney In 1950s Paris a young American expatriate
finds himself caught between his repressed desires and conventional morality. David has just
proposed marriage to his American girlfriend but while she is away on a trip he becomes
involved in a doomed affair with a bartender named Giovanni. With sharp probing insight James
Baldwin’s classic novel delves into the mysteries of love and tells a deeply moving story that
reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
