The Kingdom of Sand

"Timely and pressing . . .[The Kingdom of Sand] has the wit and keen, often biting observations of gay life that made me fall in love with Holleran's books all those years ago. [It] is Andrew Holleran at his best." —Jeffrey Masters, The Advocate
One of the great appeals of Florida has always been the sense that the minute you get here you have permission to collapse.
The Kingdom of Sand is a poignant tale of desire and dread—Andrew Holleran's first new book in sixteen years. The nameless narrator is a gay man who moved to Florida to look after his aging parents—during the height of the AIDS epidemic—and has found himself unable to leave after their deaths. With gallows humor, he chronicles the indignities of growing old in a small town.
At the heart of the novel is the story of his friendship with Earl, whom he met cruising at the local boat ramp. For the last twenty years, he has been visiting Earl to...