This gritty biography is the story of Edmund White's early years. Telling the tale of his inhinged mother, imperious father, the weirdness and extent of his young sex life, the depth of both his occasional despair and treachery, and the intellectual and artistic brilliance that White displayed.

There is much to learned and untangled in the true story of Edmund White's own boyhood - the weirdness and extent of his young sex life, the depth of both his occasional despair and treachery, and the intellectual and artistic brilliance that White displayed so early on. Forced from the age of three to be best friend and adviser to his unhinged, divorced mother, fearful of his imperious father, yet also sexually attracted to him, White evolved into an extraordinarily talented and sexually experienced teenager. This is his exceptional story.