Books by Robert Ferro

"Incandescent angels of love ... an eclectic voyage."Two heroes, reflective Peter and Byronic Chase, indulge their youthful appetites in Florence. Over the next 20 years their paths diverge and reconverge. Chase marries into the Italian aristocracy and Peter pursues his passion for Lorenzo, a beautiful young Florentine. The past impinges on the present as the story of Chase's ancestor, Orvil Starkweather, is revealed - the secrets of his life sounding a counterpoint to Chase's. New York City's Central Park and the imposing figure of designer Frederick Law Olmsted provide a mysterious connection to Chase's life. The story of the two men unfolds in Florence and New York exposing the unimagined and startling connection with the past, and taking them finally on a fateful cruise up the Nile aboard the luxury yacht the Blue Star.Originally published in 1985, this new edition contains a 2020 foreword by Andrew Holleran (Dancer from the Dance).

It was a family dealing with old values, acceptance and death. Max Desir loved his Italian roots and hearing his mother, Marie, recount tales of the old country. And he loved his American family, his father John a successful self-made businessman in New Jersey. As he came of age, Max discovered something else he loved - men - and met the love of his life in Italy. Now, at age 40, the family is split: Marie and his siblings accept Max and Nick as a stable, long-term couple but his father John does not. When a needlepoint family tree is to be hung at Christmas, it''s too much for John. Then the spectre of death enters as Marie rapidly declines with brain cancer. Loyalties divided, acceptance of family is re-examined. In this beautiful, haunting tale, told in Robert Ferro''s clear, impassioned narrative, he created a classic. "An honest, eloquent and entirely original novel ... at once realistic and mythological, intensely personal and public ... a triumph," opined Edmund White.Originally published in 1984, this edition includes a 2019 foreword by fellow author and friend Felice Picano.