The Genius of Desire: A Novel - Tapa dura

Spending the summer in Monsalvat, Michigan, with the wild and eccentric Kaiser family, young Michael Bellman confesses sins he has never committed and imagines a secret wild self that could break free of convention. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.

AND FUNNY...From the first chapter...to the very touching ending, The Genius Of Desire is a good story worth telling."

--San Francisco Chronicle

Michael Bellman is not your average little boy. He speaks to plates, banisters, and other household objects (preferring them to people). He frequently confesses to sins he never committed (like adultery). And he's hopelessly drawn to the romantic notion of a secret, double life.

Michael spends summers in Monsalvat, Michigan, coming of age in a loving tangle of great aunts, great uncles, cousins once-removed (but ever-present), and one tough-looking, silently scary grandmother. The Kaisers are a wild, highly eccentric bunch: Great Uncle Jimmy speaks to his dead wife during meals and proudly proclaims himself the Fattest Man in the World; Cousin Anne torments and taunts Michael beyond endurance; reckless Cousin Tommy secretly smokes cigars and can't wait to "kick butt in 'Nam"--and Michael watches every mag