The Married Man
By Edmund White  

     Austin Smith has picked the wrong century to be a furniture scholar and intellectual. He’s pushing fifty, lacking direction, and his biggest claim to fame is hosting parties for the Parisian youth in his apartment on the Île St. Louis, or irritating PC maniac students of American universities. His largest commitment in life is to his former lover Peter, dying of AIDS and similar to Ralph Touchett in Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady---idle and childish, a great crime in the functional, harried American society.

     Chubby, fussy but somehow likable loser Austin seeks the love of his life, and finds it in a chance encounter at the gym with the married French architect Julien, whose lack of known-last-name typifies his character. He is an enigma for much of the book, steadfast only in his devotion to his secrets and to Austin, to whom he says during an intimate pillow-talk session, “I chose you, Petit, and after that there were no other choices to make.” The master of artifice who dislikes American big-toothed girls, Julien shows depth by telling Austin, when he discovers Austin’s HIV status, “I’m going to stay with you. I’ll take care of you…You’re the way a man your age should look. I don’t want a starved little queen.” However, in an elaborate twist of irony, Julien develops AIDS and needs Austin’s constant devotion.

     As Julien slowly dies, Austin’s struggle with the AIDS disease is complicated by follies of “extramarital” desire---for it is Julien and Austin’s relationship that the book title refers to---conflicts over Austin’s loyalty to Peter, bizarre but wickedly funny supporting characters, and the hazards of international romance. Yet at the core, Austin’s day-to-day valiant efforts and his convoluted feelings of loyalty, love and resentment will be familiar to everyone who has been a caregiver for a loved one, particularly in an intimate relationship.

     Acclaimed award-winning writer Edmund White pens a deeply moving love story of two individuals with illusions about their own lives that create a real, solid and enduring love.