Take Me To Paris, Johnny

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Take Me To Paris, Johnny is John Foster's moving yet unsentimental account of the life of his partner, Juan Cespedes. It traces Juan's youth in Cuba and his move to New York, where he struggles to make it as a dancer. There, in 1981 - in 'a chance encounter, much like any other' - he meets John, an Australian historian. First published in 1993, not long before John Foster's death, Take Me To Paris, Johnny is brilliant and unflinching, at once controlled and impassioned: a love story told with humour and unerring skill.

Reviews

'[A] literary masterpiece...Unparalleled in Australian letters...Makes most fiction, here or elsewhere, look paltry by comparison.' Peter Craven, from the Introduction 'A superbly crafted memoir...[A] subtle balance of formality and intimacy, of rationality and passion.' John Rickard, from the Afterword 'Brilliantly accomplished use of language...Few other books documenting this illness rumble and resonate with such sustained power.' Robert Dessaix '[Take Me to Paris, Johnny] reminds us of the complexity of relationships...of the simultaneous strength and fragility of love.' Dennis Altman 'A remarkable, beautifully written memoir that captures and preserves the jittery zeitgeist among active gay men moving around the globe in the early '80s.' Gail Bell, Monthly 'Finely written...Foster deftly recounted his "cross-colour, cross-class" relationship, and brought his lover back to life on the page.' Steve Dow, Age