The book that brought Isherwood back into the public eye in the twenty-first century
A Single Man was Christopher Isherwood's own favorite of his novels and was the basis for the Tom Ford movie starring Colin Firth.
Welcome to sunny suburban 1960s Southern California. George is a gay middle-aged English professor, adjusting to life on his own after the tragic death of his young partner. He is determined to persist in the routines of daily life. A Single Man follows him over the course of one day, an ordinary twenty-four hours. Behind his British reserve, tides of grief, rage, and loneliness surge—but what is revealed is a man who loves being alive despite all the everyday injustices.
When A Single Man first appeared, it shocked many with its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. Now it stands as a beautiful, lyrical meditation on life as an outsider. Wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad, the novel catches the texture of life itself.
This is the beginning of a multiyear plan to reissue all of Isherwood's best work, culminating with the publication of a definitive new biography in 2015.