The Intruder

<p>Two adults each with a son meet fall in love set up a home get married and decide to have another child together. On the surface an ordinary story like many others. But beneath the surface is a double challenge: to the world because they are both men; and to death because one of them is HIV positive.</p><p></p><p>When in June 1990 in New York writer Brett Shapiro meets Giovanni Forti the U.S. correspondent for an Italian weekly magazine Giovanni is asymptomatic. Within a few months his physical decline begins. The syndrome becomes the third wheel-the intruder-in their relationship. In this memoir alternating Brett's lucid narration with Giovanni's high-spirited letters both voices bring to life the passionate realization of this unique and for many deeply provocative family project.</p><p></p><p>There are no shadows; the facts are recounted for what they are without false modesty or self-pity with full awareness that the illness will eventually prevail but also with the certainty that the family will face it with dignity and love.</p><p></p><p>Set in the turbulent early 90s this is a love story without pretense. The intelligence and force of their love and their pain will live on in those who take this book into their hands.</p>