Midnight at the Cinema Palace A Novel
Midnight at the Cinema Palace by Christopher Tradowsky is a novel published by Simon and Schuster on June 10, 2025, featuring 400 pages in English. This narrative follows Walter Simmering, a young man navigating his coming-of-age journey in San Francisco during the 1990s, a time marked by the AIDS epidemic and the onset of the tech revolution. As Walter seeks love and purpose, he encounters Cary Menuhin and Sasha Stravinsky, a couple who challenge conventional boundaries of gender and sexuality, drawing him into their vibrant world.
Readers will find a lively exploration of friendship and self-discovery as Walter, Cary, and Sasha embark on adventures throughout the city, sharing a passion for cinema and Hollywood’s golden age. The story also introduces Lawrence, a filmmaker living with HIV, with whom Walter collaborates on a film project that brings both humor and poignancy. Midnight at the Cinema Palace captures the essence of 1990s queer culture and the complexities of friendship, set against the backdrop of a city undergoing significant change.
Official synopsis Publisher
This tender, exuberant novel about a young man navigating coming of age in ’90s San Francisco is for readers of Garth Greenwell and André Aciman.
Walter Simmering is searching for love and purpose in a city he doesn’t realize is fading away—San Francisco in 1993, at the height of the AIDS epidemic and the dawn of the tech revolution. Out of college, out of the closet, and transplanted from the Midwest, Walter is irresistibly drawn from his shell when he meets Cary Menuhin and Sasha Stravinsky, a dynamic couple who live blithely beyond the boundaries of gender and sexuality. Witty and ultra-stylish, Cary and Sasha seem to have stepped straight out of a sultry film noir, captivating Walter through a shared obsession with cinema and Hollywood’s golden age.
As the three embark on adventures across the city, filled with joie de vivre, their lively friendship evolves in unexpected ways. When Walter befriends Lawrence, a filmmaker and former child actor living with HIV, they pursue a film project of their own, with hilarious and tragic results.
Midnight at the Cinema Palace is a vibrant and nostalgic exploration of young souls discovering themselves amidst the backdrop of a disappearing city. Christopher Tradowsky’s astonishing debut captures the essence of ’90s queer culture and the complex lives of friends seeking an aesthetically beautiful and fulfilling way of life.
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