This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal. Together, they will brace themselves for the brutal transition to manhood... and one will not survive. With all the dramatic brilliance he brought to The Great Santini, Pat Conroy sweeps you into the turbulent world of these four friends -- and draws you deep into the heart of his rebellious hero, Will McLean, an outsider forging his personal code of honor, who falls in love with a whimsical beauty... and who undergoes a transition more remarkable then he ever imagined possible.

    Transformed through the wide eyes of Dybek's adolescent heroes, these grimy urban backwaters become exotic landscapes of fear-filled possibility, of dreams not yet turned to nightmares. Chronicling what happens when Old World faith meets the dark side of the American dream, Dybek's poignant stories of coming of age in Chicago alternately appall, amaze, and just simply entertain.

    In telling their interconnected stories, American Book Award winner William Maxwell delivers a masterfully restrained and magically evocative meditation on the past.

    It shocked the public immensely when first published, because the story depicted how the legendary regent of Japan, Prince Shoutoku - who also supported the spread of the new religion; Buddhism - fell in love with a man, suffering because of it, and acting on his unrequited love. This is no ordinary shounen-ai manga, but its homoerotic theme is the biggest motivating force behind this convoluted story with complicated language and plot-line. 'Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi' is regarded as a masterpiece in the manga world.Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi won the 1983 Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo.