Winter Eyes: A Novel of Secrets

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A coming-of-age novel set in New York and Michigan during the Vietnam War era, Winter Eyes shows how the past controls and divides the immigrant Borowski family, and isolates their American-born son Stefan. But when Stefan comes to learn the terrible secrets at the heart of his family, that knowledge transforms them all and points the way to a happy new future for him, despite his doubts about his sexual identity.

A haunting and remarkable novel, Winter Eyes is a tale of family secrets, silence, revelation - and the hope for healing and change. A spellbinding achievement from a talented author of American fiction.

This new 2022 edition contains a foreword by Brian Bouldrey (The Genius of Desire).

Raphael’s Winter Eyes resembles a piano sonata, a piece he knows so well that his fingers breathed the music. - Los Angeles Times

Winter Eyes is one of the most affecting, absorbing, and quietly powerful American coming-of-age novels. - Booklist

Loneliness, separation, desire and the struggle with gay identity are leitmotifs of Lev Raphael’s novel. What distinguishes it is Raphael’s handling of grand themes, and his ongoing exploration of worlds both Jewish and gay and how they intersect, daring himself and his readers to contemplate wholeness. - Jenifer Levin