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The Imagined Life
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Check link for latest rating. ( 1,613 ratings, 333 reviews)
Brief Description
A taut, elegiac, and engrossing read, The Imagined Life follows Steven Mills, a man in a struggling marriage who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about the father who vanished from his life when he was only twelve. Driving up the coast of California, Steven seeks...
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A taut and elegiac novel that follows a man determined to uncover the truth about the father who vanished from his life
"A novel about fathers and sons, complex family mythologies and buried secrets, as well as the story of a man's odyssey to heal past wounds. Perfect for fans of Adam Haslett and Kaveh Akbar."
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Description
A taut, elegiac, and engrossing read, The Imagined Life follows Steven Mills, a man in a struggling marriage who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about the father who vanished from his life when he was only twelve.
Driving up the coast of California, Steven seeks out his father's friends, family, and former colleagues and is transported back to his 1980s childhood: his parents' legendary pool parties, black-and-white films on the backyard projector, his father's male friends in the cabana house... With every revelation, his father becomes more difficult to recognise, and with every insight, Steven must confront truths about his own life.
In cinematic prose, Andrew Porter explores the full nexus of male relationships: fathers and sons, husbands and lovers - set achingly against the US AIDS epidemic in the 1980s - and masterfully weaves a tale of trauma, generational secrets, forbidden love, and shame.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781787705906
Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 August 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 135.0mm
Height: 210.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 288
Collections
About the Author
Andrew Porter is the author of the story collection The Theory of Light and Matter and the novel In Between Days. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/ Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Currently, he teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
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Elson is drinking to numb the pain of his broken marriage. His ex-wife lies in a stranger's bed, lonely and waiting for dawn. Their son Richard, a young gay poet, is stunted by a fear of artistic failure. And then there is Chloe. The daughter. The one in love. The one in trouble with the law. The one on the...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$3700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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