Anne Bernays

The Man on the Third Floor Anne Bernays Unabridged edition

Walter Samson is a successful book editor in post-World War II New York. He has more than enough money, an interesting wife, two smart children, and reason to believe he's leading the good American life -- until a chance meeting with Barry Rogers. Barry is blue-collar, handsome, single, and poor.

Walter is instantly drawn to Barry and, despite the considerable risks, installs him in the Samson's three-story house on the Upper East Side, where the two men try to keep their amorous relationship secret.

Against a backdrop of McCarthy-era fear, with its doleful consequences and with society's pervasive homophobia, Walter manages to alter the direction and course of his life, losing much but gaining more.