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Table of Contents
About The Book
When society is primed to regard you as an outcast even before a sexually transmitted disease starts killing your gay brothers, coming out of the closet is hard enough—but even that is only the first step. Afterward, it can be challenging to cultivate self-respect, let alone find the lasting love you deserve and the home you crave.
In this earnest, hopeful memoir, Brooks Kolb explores the conflict between his personal and professional identities as he traces his round trip journey from Seattle to Paris, Philadelphia, London, and San Francisco against the backdrop of the 1970s sexual revolution and the devastating AIDS pandemic that followed. During his travels, Brooks becomes a landscape architect, comes out of the closet, crosses racial barriers to win lasting love, loses that love, and finds belonging. Along the way he learns that freedom demands that one construct their own morality in the face of social ostracism, that loss is an inherent attribute of love, and that the need to belong can be just as urgent as the need for love.
Heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring, Landscape in Lavender will charm readers across generations—LGBTQ+, cisgender, and straight alike—who struggle, or have struggled, to live a truly authentic life.
Product Details
- Publisher: SparkPress (August 11, 2026)
- Length: 328 pages
- ISBN13: 9798896363804
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Raves and Reviews
“A moving, meditative memoir about the nonlinear process of coming out to oneself and one’s family.”—Foreword Clarion Reviews
“Kolb tells a heartfelt tale of searching, discovery, lust, leather, and love. Landscape in Lavender is the memoir of an adventurous, aspiring young man on his way to liberation and wisdom.”—Laura Kalpakian, author of Memory Into Memoir
“This elegant sweep of a memoir has all the marks of a fine epic novel: complex family dynamics, honest revelations, hard-won triumphs, and most of all, a lovable protagonist whose strength and grand sense of humor will have readers begging for the movie version. Bravo!"—Jessica Maxwell, author of Roll Around Heaven
"Landscape in Lavender is more than a story of one man’s sexual self-discovery; it’s the story of an entire era in America. Told through the prism of Kolb’s honest and candid voice, it explores what change really means, and how difficult and rewarding it can be. No matter who you are, you’ll see yourself in this wonderful, entertaining, and inspiring memoir."—William Kenower, author of Fearless Writing and Everyone Has What It Takes
"In this honest, heartwarming, and heartbreaking tale, he [Kolb] beautifully captures what it was like to be gay during the AIDS era. I cheered, I cried, and those two things made this memoir one of my favorites of all time."—Valerie J. Brooks, author of 1 Last Betrayal
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Landscape In Lavender
Trade Paperback 9798896363804
