Flesh and Blood (1995) by Michael Cunningham is a sweeping, multigenerational saga that traces the lives of the Stassos family across five decades, from 1950s suburban Connecticut to 1990s New York. With lyrical prose and profound emotional insight, Cunningham explores the tangled bonds of love, identity, and mortality that shape this Greek-American family.
The novel begins with Constantine Stassos, a self-made man who marries Mary, a woman yearning for escape from her working-class roots. Their union—and its fractures—sets the stage for the lives of their children: Billy, a gay man navigating the AIDS crisis; Susan, a perfectionist haunted by unfulfilled desires; and Zoe, a wild spirit chasing artistic freedom. As the siblings grapple with their inheritances—both material and emotional—their stories intersect with lovers, friends, and societal shifts, from the sexual revolution to the shadow of the AIDS epidemic.
Cunningham’s writing is luminous and precise, capturing intimate moments of joy, betrayal, and reinvention. Themes of transformation, desire, and the body’s fragility resonate throughout, as each character confronts what it means to be truly seen and loved. A quieter counterpart to his later The Hours, this novel cements Cunningham’s gift for weaving individual lives into a tapestry of universal yearning.
For readers who cherish: Family epics like Middlesex or The Corrections, and stories where personal and historical upheavals collide.
