Finistère

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(83 90 98 1)>An undiscovered LGBTQ classic - Matt Donnelly <em>Variety</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(83 90 98 1)>A remarkable novel... almost as if two of those idealized youths in Plato's 'Symposium' had for one brilliant moment come alive again in a sunlit beach near the land's end of Europe - Gore Vidal author of <em>The City and the Pillar</em></strong></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>The 1920s. When wealthy American adolescent Matthew Cameron moves to France following his parents' divorce he struggles to assimilate to his new surroundings. But when a new tennis instructor - Michel Garnier - arrives at Matthew's boarding school a forbidden relationship develops that will have unforeseen consequences.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Originally published in 1951 Finistère is a trailblazing LGBTQ+ novel. It locates tragedy not in the same-sex nature of the relationship between Matthew and Michel but rather in the failure of their family and wider society to accept their relationship. Having sold over 350000 copies Fritz Peters' most successful novel kicked off the explosion of unapologetically gay literature in the United States and Britain. Through its sensitively rendered characters Peters illuminates culture clash class conflict divorce child-rearing and the gaps in empathy that provoke life's greatest pains. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Includes an introduction by Christopher Adams and Jack Parlett. Adams is an accomplished playwright and screenwriter for the film adaptation of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Finistère</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>. He holds a PhD in mid-twentieth century queer publishing history from the University of London and is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. Jack Parlett is a writer poet and literary scholar specializing in queer studies and American literature with a PhD from Cambridge University. He is the author of </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Fire Island: Love Loss and Liberation in an American Paradise.</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> </span></p>