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  • Published: 17 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781496733528
  • Imprint: Kensington
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $32.99

After Francesco

A Haunting Must-Read Perfect for Book Clubs




"Like Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, author-activist Malloy's newest novel is a heartrending portrayal of the realities of healing.” —Oprah Daily, Best LGBTQ Books of the Year

The year is 1988 and 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is bone-tired of attending funerals. It’s been two years since his partner Francesco died from AIDS, an epidemic ravaging New York City and going largely ignored by the government, leaving those effected to suffer in silence, feeling unjustifiable shame and guilt on top of their loss.

Some people might insist that Francesco and the other friends he’s lost to the disease are in a better place, but Kevin definitely isn’t. Half-alive, he spends his days at a mind-numbing job and nights with the ghost of Francesco, drunk and drowning in memories of a man who was too young to die.
 
When Kevin hits an all-time low, he realizes it’s time to move back home to Minnesota and figure out how to start living again—without Francesco. With the help of a surviving partners support group and friends both old and new, Kevin slowly starts to do just that. But an unthinkable family betrayal, and the news that his best friend is fighting for his life in New York, will force a reckoning and a defining choice.
 
“This novel is fresh, well-observed, often funny, sometimes angry, and always real. I can’t think of another novel about the AIDS years that captures that difficult, messy, intense age more accurately or movingly.”—Christopher Bram, author of Gods & Monsters

Acclaimed author Brian Malloy brings insight, humor, and the authenticity of his own experiences as a member of the AIDS generation to this universal story of love and loss set in New York City and Minneapolis at the peak of the AIDS crisis. Both a tribute to the generation gutted by the pandemic and a powerful exploration of heartbreak, recovery, and how love can defy grief, AFTER FRANCESCO is a balm for anyone who’s ever struggled through a period of darkness and come out the other side thanks to good friends, a bit of dark humor, and a reason to fight.

"Like Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, author-activist Malloy's newest novel is a heartrending portrayal of the realities of healing.” —Oprah Daily, Best LGBTQ Books of the Year

The year is 1988 and 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is bone-tired of attending funerals. It’s been two years since his partner Francesco died from AIDS, an epidemic ravaging New York City and going largely ignored by the government, leaving those effected to suffer in silence, feeling unjustifiable shame and guilt on top of their loss.

Some people might insist that Francesco and the other friends he’s lost to the disease are in a better place, but Kevin definitely isn’t. Half-alive, he spends his days at a mind-numbing job and nights with the ghost of Francesco, drunk and drowning in memories of a man who was too young to die.
 
When Kevin hits an all-time low, he realizes it’s time to move back home to Minnesota and figure out how to start living again—without Francesco. With the help of a surviving partners support group and friends both old and new, Kevin slowly starts to do just that. But an unthinkable family betrayal, and the news that his best friend is fighting for his life in New York, will force a reckoning and a defining choice.
 
“This novel is fresh, well-observed, often funny, sometimes angry, and always real. I can’t think of another novel about the AIDS years that captures that difficult, messy, intense age more accurately or movingly.”—Christopher Bram, author of Gods & Monsters

  • Published: 17 May 2022
  • ISBN: 9781496733528
  • Imprint: Kensington
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $32.99

Praise for After Francesco

Praise for Brian Malloy and After Francesco
 
* A Minnesota Book Awards Finalist *
* A 2021 Great Group Reads Selection *
* OPRAH DAILY Best LGBTQ Books of the Year *
* LAMBDA Literary Most Anticipated Books *
* A BookBub Book to Read for Pride Month *
 
“The thing about love stories is that they never truly end, especially true when a relationship ends in tragedy, when the surviving partner is forced to go on while the ghost of their lover lingers…Like Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, author-activist Malloy's newest novel is a heartrending portrayal of the realities of healing.” —Oprah Daily, Best LGBTQ Books of 2021
 
“In this highly recommended novel, the pain and rage felt by Kevin and those in the trenches with him is palpable and uncomfortable and real. So too is the love and warmth of spirit they manage to nurture in order to survive.” —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW
 
“Heart-breaking, gut-wrenching, yet somehow also sweet and funny, After Francesco is a must-read…a universal tale of grief and resilience.” —Bonnie Kistler, author of House on Fire
 
“Tender…filled with humor, grief, heartbreak, recovery, the endurance of love and, eventually, hope.” —The St. Paul Pioneer
Press
 
“Set against the worst of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, this heartfelt novel isn’t just moving—it’s healing… Although the tragedy and heartache that Kevin endures brought us to tears more than once, Malloy also conveys joy, humor, and a beautiful sense of gay culture and community. After Francesco is a gorgeous and cathartic read that will enrich the way you understand a painful moment in American history.” Apple Books, Best Books of the Month
 
“[After Francesco] is not dark and gloomy; it comes with quite a lot of humor, rays of bright sunlight, and an overall feeling that there’s nothing more powerful than love, life, and hope…a truly amazing book.” Rainbow Book Reviews
 
“With characters who are flawed and funny, courageous and fearful, Brian Malloy tells a story that could serve as a guidebook on how to love, how to fight for those we love, and how to honor those we’ve lost without losing ourselves. Beautifully written and infused with sly humor, After Francesco is a love letter to life.” —Lorna Landvik, author of Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
 
“With wit, compassion and vivid atmospherics of the era, Malloy has written an inspiring story of a defining era of loss…All the issues of this era a powerfully conveyed in Malloy’s fictional narrative in his elegiac remembrance of a shared tragic past. But it is also filled with humor and the pathos of raw emotion of Kevin’s unfiltered grief…After Francesco is a potent reminder that we can never forget the generation we lost. And we can never stop fighting for our lives against all odds. The anti-LGBTQIA+ hate that spiked during the AIDS years is a fever that is once again as twisted new LGBTQIA+ discrimination bills are being pushed through state legislatures, the halls of congress, and the courts across the land.” —The New York Journal of Books
 
“Furious, funny, and beautiful, After Francesco immerses the reader in the crisis of the AIDS epidemic in 1980s in New York.
Brian Malloy has created a cast of characters so memorable—so vividly witty and aggrieved and brave and bewildered—you’ll never want to put this novel down.” —Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members
 
“This is a character I trust completely as a reader, a character who accesses sharp gallows humor as readily as tears, a character both insecure and brave, a character who effortlessly evokes the 1980s East Village he loves but despises. This book centers around a convincing love story, something uncommon enough, but more than that it’s a book about the strength of friendships that are forged in the face of so many enemies and threats. Honest, sarcastic, bighearted—you’ll wish it didn’t have to end.” —John Brandon, author of Further Joy