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Also by Jonathan Rauch:

Denial, May 2013
e-Book
Gay Marriage, January 2004
Trade Size (reprint)

DENIAL
By: Jonathan Rauch

My 25 Years Without a Soul

Atlantic Books
May 2013
On Sale: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 0016438051
EAN: 2940016438054
Kindle: B00CLJAMII
e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir

A young boy sitting on a piano bench realizes one day that he will never marry. At the time, this seems merely a simple, if odd, fact, but as his attraction to boys grows stronger, he is pulled into a vortex of denial. Not just for one year or even 10, but for 25 years, he lives in an inverted world, a place like a photographic negative, where love is hate, attraction is envy, and childhood never ends. He comes to think of himself as a kind of monster—until one day, seemingly miraculously, the world turns itself upright and the possibility of love floods in.

Equal parts Oliver Sacks and George Orwell, with moments of Woody Allen, Jonathan Rauch’s memoir of his “inversion” is by turns harrowing and funny, a grippingly intimate journey through a bizarre maze of self-torment that ends with an unexpected discovery. Many people, gay and straight, have lived through their own versions of this story, seeking to twist their personality in directions it just won’t go. Not all have been lucky enough to escape.

Media Buzz

Diane Rehm Show - NPR - November 20, 2013