Flesh and Blood (96 Edition)

Winner of the 1995 Whiting Writers Award
Winner of the 1995 Lambda Literary Award

In Flesh and Blood, Michael Cunningham takes us on a masterful journey through four generations of the Stassos family as he examines the dynamics of a family struggling to "come of age" in the 20th century.

In 1950, Constantine Stassos, a Greek immigrant laborer, marries Mary Cuccio, an Italian-American girl, and together they produce three children: Susan, an ambitious beauty, Billy, a brilliant homosexual, and Zoe, a wild child. Over the years, a web of tangled longings, love, inadequacies and unfulfilled dreams unfolds as Mary and Constantine's marriage fails and Susan, Billy, and Zoe leave to make families of their own. Zoe raises a child with the help of a transvestite, Billy makes a life with another man, and Susan raises a son conceived in secret, each extending the meaning of family and love. With the power of a Greek tragedy, the story builds to a heartbreaking crescendo, allowing a glimpse into contemporary life which will echo in one's heart for years to come.

"Thoroughly realized action, vivid character delineation, and the splendid control of language guarantee both the unity and powerful impact of this successful novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World. Very highly recommended." Library Journal

"Cunningham, in a remarkable performance, inhabits the psyche of each of his striking characters as they find themselves in one surprising situation after another." Donna Seaman, Booklist

"A wonderful... sprawling, old-fashioned novel." The New York Times Book Review

"Michael Cunningham is a writer possessed of a contemplative, grieving, empathetic consciouness, utterly unique in contemporary fiction.... A very great gift from a greatly gifted writer." Tony Kushner

Michael Cunningham

Flesh and Blood is Michael Cunningham's third novel. His first,

Golden States, was published in 1984. His second, A Home at the End of the

World, published in 1991, was widely acclaimed and was shortlisted for the

Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize.

Cunningham has also published a wide array of short stories, including "White

Angel" in The New Yorker (1988), "Pearls" in The Paris Review

(1982), and "Ignorant Armies" in The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories

(Viking/Penguin 1994). He has also written articles for publications such as

Esquire, Vogue, and Out including "After AIDS, Gay Art Aims for a

New Reality" for the front page of the Arts & Leisure section of The New

York Times in April 1992.

Having won numerous fellowships from institutions such as the Mrs. Giles

Whiting Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation,

Cunningham has been awarded for his prose time and time again. His education

includes a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University and a Master of Arts from

the University of Iowa, Writer's Workshop.

Michael Cunningham currently lives in New York City.

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