One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World' Baldwin's ground-breaking second 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 true nature, he rejects Giovanni for a 'safe' future as a married man. His decision eventually brings tragedy. Filled with passion, regret and longing, this story of a...

Baldwin grew up in a family of a stepfather, a priest and was the oldest of nine children. Baldwin never knew his own father and partially suffered from this, which was reflected in some of his works. In his youth, Baldwin is going to follow in the footsteps of his stepfather and helps him in the church. But the older the future writer becomes, the more distinctly he understands that his stepfather’s sermons diverge from what is happening on the streets of Harlem, and, most importantly, with the behavior of the stepfather himself at home. After leaving school in the Bronx, Baldwin moved to...