ANDREW W. M. BEIERLE | FIRST PERSON PLURAL

“Upon reading the premise of this novel, I expected the easy route, a comedy, but what I got instead amazed and moved me, a daring novel filled with insights not only into the bizarre aspects of human anatomy but into the equally bizarre anatomy of human love. Andrew Beierle has given us a love story between two men bound by something stronger than love, flesh. First Person Plural reads like a memoir, as if it has been poured out of the heart of a man who has suffered first-hand the indignities and miracles described in this novel. How Mr. Beierle submerged himself so deeply I have no idea. This book will stagger you; but better yet it will remind you of something too easily forgotten: that human existence is by its very nature heroic.”

“Andrew Beierle’s imagination and empathy have no limits. In First Person Plural he charts new emotional territory, bravely escorting us deep into the tangled relationships and complicated desires of his two unforgettable protagonists, whose tragedy is that they are both inseparable and profoundly divided. Welding great compassion to psychological acuity, Beierle forces us to confront the unthinkable.”

—Paula Peterson, winner of the 2000 Katharine Bakeless Nason Prize
for nonfiction for her memoir, Penitent With Roses;
author of the short story collection Women of the Grove.

“What a remarkable book! The protagonist of Andrew Beierle’s new novel is one of the most unique and unforgettable characters in fiction. Deftly written, funny, wise, and poignant, First Person Plural is an excitingly original addition to contemporary literature.”

—Jeff Mann, author of Loving Mountains, Loving Men; A History of Barbed Wire; Edge; On The Tongue; and Bones Washed With Wine

“Utterly original . . . tender, comic, bittersweet, and well-written, with lovable characters, heartbreak, and redemption—in other words, with all the right ingredients.”

—Jan DeBlieu, author of Wind, winner of the 1998 John Burroughs medal
for distinguished natural history writing, and Year of the Comets

“Deftly written and intricately imagined, in First Person Plural Andrew Beierle has created twin brothers so original and compelling that this extraordinary novel is destined to leave a profound and indelible impression on its reader. An auspicious achievement by a remarkably talented author.”

“A metaphorical tale of differentness, an extended exploration of the complexities of identity—the possibilities, limitations and internal contradictions that exist in us all—First Person Plural is striking and original, and that rarity in fiction, a novel of ideas.

—Katherine V. Forrest, twice winner of the Lambda Literary Award for best mystery and recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.

“In this story of two men born with different heads and different hearts but the same body, Andrew Beierle explores one of the most perplexing dilemmas we humans face: how much does a man owe to himself, as he searches for his own identity, and how much to those closest to him, in this case the other half of his own body? The fact that one of these joined twins is gay and the other straight leads, almost inevitably, to loneliness, confusion, and finally angry confrontation. Although we as readers may find ourselves wishing that each of these two men could have his own life—and his own love—we ultimately come to understand, as they do, that they cannot change what destiny has handed them. Their only choice is to find a way to live in harmony with each other. I salute both the courage and the insight that Beierle has brought to this engrossing and sensitively written story.

—Robert Taylor, author of A Few Hints and Clews, All We Have Is Now, Whose Eye Is on Which Sparrow?, Revelation and Other Stories, and The Innocent