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A taut, elegiac, and engrossing read,
The Imagined Life follows Steven Mills, a man in a struggling marriage who becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about the father who vanished from his life when he was only twelve.
Driving up the coast of California, Steven seeks out his father's friends, family, and former colleagues, and is transported back to his 1980s childhood: his parents' legendary pool parties, black-and-white films on the backyard projector, his father's male friends in the cabana house... With every revelation his father becomes more difficult to recognise, and, with every insight, Steven must confront truths about his own life.
In cinematic prose, Andrew Porter explores the full nexus of male relationships: fathers and sons, husbands and lovers-set achingly against the US AIDS epidemic and the homophobia of the 1980s-and masterfully weaves a tale of trauma, generational secrets, forbidden love, and shame.
About the author
Andrew Porter is the author of the story collections The Disappeared and The Theory of Light and Matter, as well as the novel In Between Days. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a James Michener/ Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Narrative, and The Southern Review, and his story 'Angelo' has been selected by Celeste Ng to appear in 2025's Best American Short Stories. He teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing programme at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
