The Family of Max Desir

It was a family dealing with old values, acceptance and death. Max Desir loved his Italian roots and hearing his mother, Marie, recount tales of the old country. And he loved his American family, his father John a successful self-made businessman in New Jersey. As he came of age, Max discovered something else he loved – men – and met the love of his life in Italy. Now, at age 40, the family is split: Marie and his siblings accept Max and Nick as a stable, long-term couple but his father John does not. When a needlepoint family tree is to be hung at Christmas, it's too much for John. Then the spectre of death enters as Marie rapidly declines with brain cancer. Loyalties divided, acceptance of family is re-examined.

In this beautiful, haunting tale, told in Robert Ferro's clear, impassioned narrative, he created a classic. 

Originally published in 1983, this new edition includes a foreword by fellow author and friend Felice Picano (Like People in History).

"Nobody has told this story before, and Robert Ferro has the power to make his telling definitive … his clear, impassioned narrative moves with wit and sensuous energy. It has shaken and excited me more than any recent American fiction. I want to give it to people. I want everyone to read it." – Walter Clemons, Newsweek

"A stunning achievement … not limited to the gay experience, but touches upon the very nature of the human condition … renews faith in the American novel … One of the finest (and certainly most moving) novels of the year." – James Fritzhand, The Advocate

"An honest, eloquent and entirely original novel … at once realistic and mythological, intensely personal and public … The Family of Max Desir is a triumph." – Edmund White

"Sensitive and original … beautifully sustained and often disturbing … at once deeply personal and universal." – New York Native