Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Boy’s Own Story | 1982 | Edmund White | Buy |
| 2 | The Beautiful Room Is Empty | 1988 | Edmund White | Buy |
| 3 | La sinfonia degli addii | 1997 | Edmund White | N/A |
| 4 | The Farewell Symphony | 1997 | Edmund White | Buy |
The Edmund Trilogy follows an unnamed narrator from his teenage years in the American Midwest through his adult life in New York City and beyond. A Boy’s Own Story (1982) covers his adolescence and early awareness of his sexuality in the 1950s. The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988) picks up with his college years and young adulthood, ending with the Stonewall riots of 1969. The Farewell Symphony (1997) carries the story through the 1970s and 80s as the narrator watches friends and lovers die during the AIDS crisis.
White writes with frank, sensual prose that treats gay life as ordinary rather than exotic. The books are widely considered among the most important works of American LGBTQ fiction, and A Boy’s Own Story in particular has become a standard text in queer literature courses. The trilogy can be read as individual novels, but reading them in order gives the fullest picture of the narrator’s life.