In Tongues

Its 2001, and twenty-four-year-old Gordon - handsome, sensitive, and eager for direction - takes a bus from Minnesota to New York City because its the only place for a young gay man to go. As he begins to settle into the citys punishing rhythm, he gets a job walking rich Manhattanites dogs. But it isnt until he stumbles into the West Village brownstone of two of his clients, the powerful gallery owners Philip and Nicola, that Gordon learns how much the world has hidden from him - and what hes 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 Grattans In Tongues chronicles Gordons perilous pursuit of belonging from the Midwest to New York and, later, to Europe and Mexico City. As he floats further into Philip and Nicolas exclusive universe, and as lines blur between employee, muse, lover, and mentor, Gordons charm, manipulations, and growing ambition begin to escape his own control, in turn threatening to unravel the lives, and lies, of those around him. Anchored by winsome lyricism, glinting intellect, and a main character whose yearnings and mistakes come to feel like our own, In Tongues crackles with fierce longing and pointed emotion, further confirming Thomas Grattan as a rare chronicler of young adulthoods joys and devastations.