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A gritty and gorgeous debut inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary Paris Is Burning

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NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY Buzzfeed - Esquire - Bustle - The Millions - The Wall Street Journal - Entertainment Weekly - Nylon - Elle - Dazed - The Irish Times

´Cassara has written a heartbreaking tale of gay men struggling to survive in a world of clubbing and drugs. It is also an unexpected love story.´ Graham Norton, Top Five Reads of 2018

´Cassaras´s propulsive and profound first novel, finding one´s home in the world - particularly in a subculture plagued by fear and intolerance from society - comes with tragedy as well as extraordinary personal freedom.´ Esquire

A gritty and gorgeous debut inspired by the real House of Xtravaganza made famous by the seminal documentary Paris Is Burning
New York City, 1980
Nowhere is the city´s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem dance scene.
Angel
Just seventeen years old and burnt by her traumatic past, she wants to create a family for those without.
Hector
When Angel falls in love with him, the two decide to set up the House of Xtravaganza, the first ever all-Latino house on the dance circuit.
The Xtravaganzas
They are joined by Venus, Juanito and Daniel, all with their own devastating stories to tell, each determined to survive.
Told in a voice that brims with wit, rage, tenderness, and fierce yearning, The House of Impossible Beauties is a gritty and gorgeous debut - a tragic story of love, family, and the dynamism of the human spirit.

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´Cassara has written a heartbreaking tale of gay men struggling to survive in a world of clubbing and drugs. It is also an unexpected love story.´
Graham Norton Top Five Reads of 2018

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Joseph Cassara was born and raised in New Jersey. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the Iowa Writers´ Workshop and has been a writing fellow at the Fine Arts Centre in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The House of Impossible Beauties is his first novel. He lives in Iowa.

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