He grew up in a small town in New England in the 1950's, watching lassie, going to church, getting straight A's at school, a scholar destined for success. But he already had a secret, and his public life with family and friends was already a constant round of ventriloquism as he played the joker and pretended to be the same as everyone else. For Paul Monette was gay. BECOMING A MAN is about growing up gay, and about the tyranny and self denial of the closet - one man's struggle, for half his life, to come out. From the white-bread 1950's through the rebellious 1960's to the self-creating 1970's and beyond, it forms a passionately honest and unsparing account of the tortures of living a lie, a naked protrait of one man's fight for freedom in a time of ignorance and bigotry.

A child of the 1950s from a small New England town, "perfect Paul" earns straight A's and shines in social and literary pursuits, all the while keeping a secret -- from himself and the rest of the world. Struggling to be, or at least to imitate, a straight man, through Ivy League halls of privilege and bohemian travels abroad, loveless intimacy and unrequited passion, Paul Monette was haunted, and finally saved, by a dream of "the thing I'd never even seen: two men in love and laughing."

Searingly honest, witty, and humane, "Becoming a Man" is the definitive coming-out story in the classic coming-of-age genre.

Sanctuary A Tale of Life in the Woods Paul Monette In this beautifully written Lambda Literary Award-nominated fable, the late Paul Monette, author of the National Book Award-winning "Becoming a Man, gives us the story of Renarda the Fox and Lapine the Rabbit, two creatures who fall in love in an enchanted forest sanctuary. Like many classic fairy tales, "Sanctuary is a story of love thwarted by evil and set free through acts of goodness, and celebrates the liberating nature of every kind of love.

The first personal documentary about AIDS to be published, "Borrowed Time" remains as vividly detailed as the best novel and as lucidly observed as the fiercest journalism. It is a cry from the heart against AIDS as it was in the early stages of the plague and against the intolerance that surrounded it. In equal parts, it is a supremely moving love story and a chronicle of the deep commitment and devotion that Paul Monette felt for Roger Horwitz from the night of their first meeting in Boston in the mid-1970s to Roger's diagnosis a decade later and through the last two years of his life, when fighting the disease together became a full-time occupation. This is not a book about death but a book about living while dying and the full range of emotions provoked by that transition -- sorrow, fear, anger, among them. It is a document essential to the history of the gay community; vital for anyone reading about AIDS; and one of the most powerful demonstrations of love and partnership to be found in print.

Paul Monette's uproarious, sexy novel takes us deep into the glamorous world of vintage Los Angeles Perched on top of a hill in the oldest part of Bel Air, Crook House is the grand mansion that gilded Hollywood dreams are made of. It seemed like the perfect place for the exhausted and neurotic Rita to take time away from her life and catch up with her old friend Peter and his lover, Nick. What she didn't count on was her friends' emotional baggage, not to mention the suspicious tales of a buried treasure underneath the house. This second novel from Paul Monette puts a tender focus on the ways in which money and time can distort relationships, while also demonstrating how the ties between friends can endure-and even grow stronger-no matter what the distance or history. As Rita, Nick, and Peter get closer to unraveling the mystery buried underneath Crook House, they begin to learn that what they are searching for could be the key to their very survival. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Paul Monette including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the Paul Monette papers of the UCLA Library Special Collections. " Monette's] memorable, multifaceted characters transcend the boundaries suggested by their sexual orientations." -Publishers Weekly on Halfway Home " Paul Monette] was a superbly gifted writer." -James McBride, author of The Color of Water and The Good Lord Bird Paul Monette (1945-1995) was an author, poet, and gay rights activist. Born in Massachusetts and educated at Yale University, he moved with his partner Roger Horwitz to Los Angeles in 1978 and became involved in the gay rights movement. Monette's writing captures the sense of heartbreak and loss at the center of the AIDS crisis. His first novel, Taking Care of Mrs. Carroll, was published in 1978, and he went on to write several more works of fiction, poetry, and memoir. Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir, the tender account of his partner's battle with the disease, earned him both PEN Center West and Lambda Literary Awards. In 1992, Monette won the National Book Award in Nonfiction for Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, an autobiography detailing his early life and his struggle with his sexuality. Written as a classic coming-of-age story, Becoming a Man became a seminal coming-out story. In 1995, Monette founded the Monette-Horwitz Trust, which honors individuals and organizations working to combat homophobia. Monette died in his home in West Hollywood in 1995 of complications from AIDS.