Garth Greenwell is out to wreck you with his breathtaking debut novel, What Belongs to You. In it, an American expat teaching English in Bulgaria falls for Mitko, an enigmatic, young gay hustler. Predicated on lust, money, and manipulation, their relationship is doomed from the start. But what could easily have been a trite and tragic tale of unrequited love instead becomes a haunting meditation on the anatomy of desire itself. Why do we crave the things that hurt? What continues to draw these men together? They ache for such very different ends, yet inevitably return to the same disturbing patterns of dysfunction. The novel's stark Eastern European stage, combined with Greenwell’s layered and lyrical prose, make for a story at once brutal and beautiful to behold. What Belongs to You is true, heartbreaking art; it belongs on your bookshelf.

—Lincoln Thompson