In One Person A Novel [Paperback]

His most daringly political, sexually transgressive, and moving novel in well over a decade (Vanity Fair).

Winner of a 2013 Lambda Literary Award

ANew York Timesbestselling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity,In One Personis a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting—and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character ofIn One Person, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a sexual suspect, a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of terminal cases, The World According to Garp.

In One Personis a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers—a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least,In One Personis an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself worthwhile. “In One Persongives a lot. It’s funny, as you would expect. It’s risky in what it exposes.…Tolerance, in a John Irving novel, is not about anything goes. It’s what happens when we face our own desires honestly, whether we act on them or not.”“It is impossible to imagine the American – or international – literary landscape without John Irving….He has sold tens of millions of copies of his books, books that have earned descriptions likeepicandextraordinaryandcontroversialandsexually brave. And yet, unlike so many writers in the contemporary canon, he manages to write books that are both critically acclaimed and beloved for their sheer readability. He is as close as one gets to a contemporary Dickens in the scope of his celebrity and the level of his achievement.”—Time“There’s a talent at work in this brave new novel that — as Prospero said — &l³Ç