Also available in French

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A Boy's Own Story (1982)

An instant classic upon its original publication. A Boy's Own Story is the first of Edmund White's highly acclaimed trilogy of autobiographical novels that brilliantly evoke a young man's coming of age and document American gay life through the last forty years.

This deeply affecting work introduces the nameless narrator as he reflects on his difficult childhood during the 1950s with a mixture of tenderness and anguish. Growing up with emotionally aloof, divorced parents, and forced to endure ridicule from his unrelenting sister and schoolmates, he tries to escape his feeling of self-consciousness and alienation by immersing himself in literature, art, and his fantastic imagination. As he strives to cultivate enduring friendships with both peers and mentors, he becomes aware of his yearning to be loved by the men in his life, and struggles with the guilt and shame of accepting who he is. Written with lyrical delicacy and extraordinary powers, A Boy's Own Story is a triumph.