Product Description

"A potent, engrossing meditation on sex, power and the places where each becomes indistinguishable from the other."-Michael Cunningham

Late at night, alone in his cell in a decaying Havana prison, a young American writes a letter to his Cuban lover. In it, he struggles to to find a measure of peace and a greater understanding of how their fiery love affair could have disintegrated so tragically into obsession, jealousy and violence. Because in the morning, he will face a firing squad for a murder he did not commit.

Brendan Lemon is the editor in chief of Out magazine. The former cultural editor for The New Yorker, he lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1931161 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Out magazine editor-in-chief Lemon makes his fiction debut with a poignant love story set in mid-1980s Cuba. The novel takes the form of a long letter to a young Cuban man from an American on death row in a Cuban prison, written on the eve of his execution. In his sprawling, evocative missive, John Webster relives much of his relationship with boxer Eduardo Garcia, which begins when he catches Eduardo's eye on the streets of Manhattan. Three days of hot and heavy romance ensue (including a steamy night at the Metropolitan Opera) and end with Eduardo's return to Cuba and a promise from John to visit. He does, accompanying a left-wing political group whose members volunteer in the Cuban sugarcane fields. But John soon abandons his comrades to reunite with Eduardo in Havana. An afternoon of frolicking in Coppelia Park ends abruptly when Eduardo confronts a young Cuban thief and ends up beating him to death. In shock, John and Eduardo both flee, but the police quickly apprehend them. A court case rife with homophobia and betrayal determines their separate fates. The book's conceit of a protracted confessional love letter interspersed with atmospheric prison scenes grows wearisome and often feels forced. Yet the lovers' relationship is moving without being saccharine, and Lemon's graceful prose and taut pacing compensate somewhat for the story's creaky foundation.

About the Author
Brendan Lemon is the editor in chief of Out,the nation's largest-selling gay and lesbian magazine. The former cultural editor for The New Yorker, he lives in New York City.