The whole course of ones life really can change in an instant. Peter is forty-four, prosperous, the owner of a big New York apartment, a player in the NY contemporary art dealing scene. He has been married to Rebecca for close on twenty years. Their marriage is sound, in the way marriages are. Peter might even describe himself to be happy. But when Mizzy, Rebeccas much younger brother, comes to stay, his world is turned upside down. Returning to their New York flat after work one day, Peter se es the outline of Rebecca in the shower. But when he opens the shower door, it is Mizzy he comes face to face with. From that moment on, Mizzy occupies all of Peters thoughts. His fascination with him is erotic but not exactly sexual. Without ever r eally falling out of love with his wife, he tumbles into love with her brother, and is encouraged that way by the young man. With traces of the tensions that ripple through Death in Venice, this new novel from Michael Cunningham brilliantly examines the quest for unattainable, and temporal, beauty.