In Tongues: A Novel

Named a Most Anticipated Book by Time, Bloomberg, and Electric Literature. RuPaul and Eric Cervini's Allstora Book Club Pick for June.

"Thomas Grattan is a master of plot―that rare ability―which makes In Tongues a real roller coaster: funny, sad, shocking, and, finally, quite moving." ―Andrew Holleran, author of Dancer from the Dance

"An amiable, zippy novel that also smuggles in a sharp analysis of family, class and the intergenerational inheritance of gay men." ―The Washington Post

A young gay man upends the lives of a powerful art-world couple in this steamy novel of self-discovery.

It’s 2001, and twenty-four-year-old Gordon―handsome, sensitive, and eager for direction―takes a bus from Minnesota to New York City because it’s the only place for a young gay man to go. As he begins to settle into the city’s punishing rhythm, he gets a job walking rich Manhattanites’ dogs. But it isn’t until he stumbles into the West Village brownstone of two of his clients, the powerful gallery owners Phillip and Nicola, that Gordon learns how much the world has hidden from him―and what he’s capable of doing in order to get it for himself.

A lush, heart-quickening novel about family and art, sex and class, and the terror of self-discovery, Thomas Grattan’s