When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many with its  frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife.

George,  the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death  of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of his daily  life. The course of A Single Man spans 24 hours in an ordinary day.

An  Englishman and a professor living in suburban Southern California, he  is an outsider in every way, and his internal reflections and  interactions with others reveal a man who loves being alive despite  everyday injustices and loneliness.

Wry, suddenly manic, constantly funny, surprisingly sad, this novel catches the texture of life itself.