People in Trouble

Part of the Vintage Stonewall anniversary series, this is a blistering 90s novel about love in the time of AIDS, featuring a fictionalised Donald Trump as its villain.

It was the beginning of the end of the world but not everyone noticed right away.

New York, late 80s. The AIDS crisis has taken hold and the world is on the brink of imploding. Ronald Horne, an entitled property tycoon, lords over the city. Kate, a successful artist, lives in Manhattan with Peter, her husband and fellow creative. She’s having an affair with Molly, a younger gay woman who, when she’s not working a dead-end job, is caring for sick friends.

At one of many funerals during an unbearably hot summer, Molly learns about Justice, the guerrilla activist group fighting for people with AIDS. She immediately signs up. Kate isn’t so sure. And Peter is bewildered: by the changes he’s seeing in his city, its inhabitants, and most crucially, his wife. Soon the trio learn that a tragedy of this kind not only warps our closest relationships but how anger - and its absence - can make the difference between life and death.

'Strong, nervy and challenging' - The New York Times