Flesh And Blood by Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham is one of the most gifted writers around. His book, The Hours, won the Pulitzer prize for fiction and was made into a film starring Nicole Kidman who sported a curious prosthetic nose.

Flesh and Blood is his second novel and a wonderful sprawling family saga. It tells the story of four generations of the American immigrant Stassos family and the various ways in which the parents cope with a gay child in the family and how the gay child copes with the desire to create a family of his own.

One of the wonderful things is the way the gay hero Billy is placed squarely in the centre of a network of his straight family, work and friends.

It's an ambitious book, epic in scale, and tremendously satisfying. It would be a great holiday read. A lot of book for your buck and well worth it.