The Kingdom of Sand by Andrew Holleran

The exhilarating new novel from the author of Dancer from the Dance
 
An elegy to sex and the body, but also a tragically honest exploration of loneliness and the endless need for human connection, The Kingdom of Sand marks the much-anticipated return of Andrew Holleran.
 
Out in the drought-struck backwaters of rural Florida, The Kingdom of Sand's nameless narrator lives a life of semi-solitude, enjoying the odd, fleeting sexual encounter and the friendship of a few. His world is ageing, and with it the memories of another time flash, then fade - visions of parties filled with handsome young men, the parents whom he chose to spend his life besides, the generation he once knew, struck down by AIDS. But, when forced to watch the slow demise of a close neighbour, he is drawn back to the here and now, and his own borrowed time in this kingdom of sand.
 
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'Affecting and engaging' Colm Toibin
 
'A wistful, witty meditation on a gay man's twilight years and the twilight of America'  Guardian
 
'An unexpectedly timely novel - wise, shrewd, and in its way, kind, if honesty is ever kind. And written with the sure hand of a master' - Alexander Chee

'Every one of [Andrew Holleran's] books is a gem. If he were straight, his reputation would be immense. The beauty of his language, the empathy for his characters and the world he writes about, are unsurpassed by any other gay writing of our time... He is our Fitzgerald and Hemingway but for one thing: he writes better than both of them' -- Larry Kramer, author of The Normal Heart

Andrew Holleran writes about desire so beautifully it's occasionally forgotten that he's one of the best living novelists on friendship. This tender, often very funny novel is a book about that final field of play between friends, when all the masks are removed. I wish it never ended -- John Freeman

A powerful meditation on friendship and mortality... Majestic... This vital work shows Holleran at the top of his game ― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Beautiful, hilarious, heart-breaking and tender -- Andrew McMillan (on Dancer from the Dance)