The Kingdom of Sand is a recent book by Andrew Holleran that I’m currently reading. He wrote Dancer from the Dance in 1978. It was about the gay scene on Fire Island before the full extent of the AIDS epidemic was really known. After the fact, it was a depressing story. A recent season of American Horror Story filled in what was happening in New York City about the same time.
This time the narrator is in his 70s and lives in or near Gainesville, Florida. His parents are dead, and he’s single and alone. I can relate, to a point. I had a husband before he died 13 years ago. We were together 46 years and got married in Canada when it became legal there. I am fortunate in having been able to find people I can be close to since, and thus creating my own family — as gay people often do.
This book is intentionally depressing. I’m only partway through it, and I can’t predict how it will end up — but I suspect that the ending won’t be a happy one.