Giovanni's Room

A beautiful new Clothbound edition of Baldwin's ground-breaking novel, which established him as one of the great American writers of his time.

David, a young American in 1950s Paris, is waiting for his fiancée to return from vacation in Spain. But when he meets Giovanni, a handsome Italian barman, the two men are drawn into an intense affair. After three months David's fiancée returns and, denying his sexuality, he rejects Giovanni for a 'safe' future as a married man - a decision that will bring tragedy, longing and regret.


'Audacious... remarkable... elegant and courageous' - Caryl Phillips

'Exquisite, a feat of fire-breathing, imaginative daring' - Guardian

'Gorgeous, fearless, tempered by dark knowledge and pain... the greatest American prose stylist of his generation' - Colm Tóibín

'A layered exploration of queer desire... It is electric' - Hilton Als