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Surprising, moving and essential, Giovanni’s Room is one of the truly great American novels

July 31, 2025

It was the story he wanted to tell, but not one he was supposed to tell. And when Black American novelist James Baldwin completed the manuscript of his second book in the mid-1950s, his publishers refused to back it.

That’s because, to the surprise of all who had read Go Tell it on the Mountain, Baldwin’s debut, Giovanni’s Room was not a further exploration of the African-American experience, but the tale of David, a white American expat in Paris, wrestling with his sexual identity.

‘Wasn’t he [Baldwin] black and queer and from poor-ass Harlem?’ asks American author, critic and Berkeley professor Hilton Als in his illuminating introduction to the new Folio edition. ‘What did he know about white expatriates carrying on with the French and Italians in post-World War II Paris?’ And yet Baldwin, himself gay, was writing from deep personal experience (he lived in Paris for a decade in the 1940s and 50s), and the book instantly found a devoted readership.

‘It is an essential early work of queer literature,’ says Folio Fiction Editor Sophia Schoepfer, ‘recognised today as one of the truly great American novels. It is powerful, heartbreaking and formative.’

“The author wants you to love, but he doesn’t necessarily want the love he describes in his story to happen to you.”

From its spine-tingling opening (‘I stand at the window of this great house in the south of France as night falls, the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life’) to its haunting conclusion, Giovanni’s Room is an intense read. It dives into the deepest currents of human experience. But while it contains tragedy, it is not tragic. ‘Giovanni’s Room is a curiously hopeful book,’ writes Als. ‘The story is meant to be instructive; the author wants you to love, but he doesn’t necessarily want the love he describes in his story to happen to you. And if it has happened to you, how to undo it?’

‘During Black History Month, we asked readers who they wanted added to the list, and they were clear we had to have James Baldwin,’ says Sophia. ‘We are delighted to answer that wish.’

Every detail of the volume has been crafted by artist Lela Harris to capture the essence of this remarkable novel. ‘The look and feel of the edition contribute to and echo the story itself,’ says Sophia.

Production details

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

The binding

Artist Lela Harris describes Giovanni’s Room as ‘David’s confessional’, and designed the volume to feel like a journal. The edition is quarter-bound, accented with a yellow cloth spine, and sized, at 8¾ x 5½ inches, to convey the intimacy of a diary.

The slipcase

The slipcase features a richly coloured abstract painting of the apartment that Giovanni and David spend so much time in, while their charcoal portraits adorn the binding. In a sense, the two men sit within the ‘room’ of the slipcase; as you remove the book from its case, you encounter the story and its central characters.

The illustrations

The black and white charcoal illustrations are tender and emotionally charged. ‘My personal favourite,’ says Sophia, ‘is the arresting image of Giovanni in bed, staring directly out at the viewer, his eyes filled with emotion.’

The introduction

Hilton Als’ introduction is, says Sophia, ‘a deep dive into the novel – its themes and its characters, its flaws and its beauty – and the life and mind of the author behind it.’

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Surprising, moving and essential, Giovanni’s Room is one of the truly great American novels

“The author wants you to love, but he doesn’t necessarily want the love he describes in his story to happen to you.”

Every detail of the volume has been crafted by artist Lela Harris to capture the essence of this remarkable novel. ‘The look and feel of the edition contribute to and echo the story itself,’ says Sophia.

A love story like no other

Experience Baldwin’s poignant exploration of identity, desire and loss – in a Folio made to linger ...