For You I Would Make an Exception

"I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, darkly funny, and compulsively readable novel about unexpected fatherhood, international politics, and finding one's place in the world. With a sharp eye for detail and a great ear for dialogue, Belletto shows us how the personal and political are always-thrillingly, dangerously, and emotionally-connected." Alix Ohlin, author of We Want What We Want

"An adventure story that subverts the genre's tropes, Belletto's blazingly intelligent and often wildly funny novel explores the possibility that what we never wanted may turn out to be exactly what we need. This marvelously surprising and deeply moving novel fulfills a demanding task: it shows us how, against all odds, buried courage may be uncovered and a human heart may expand." Lee Upton, author of Visitations

"In For You I Would Make an Exception, Steven Belletto takes the reader on adventures from the US to Kenya to Bihar and back as he examines, hilariously and elegantly, the wild ride of any kind of love. An astute chronicler of the complex and changing geopolitics of our time, acclaimed scholar Belletto's first novel is immersive and riveting; I could not put it down." Jennifer Gilmore, author of The Mothers

"Steven Belletto's For You I Would Make an Exception is a Swiss Army knife of a novel: an academic novel that is also a travel novel that is also a novel of manners that is also a coming-of-age novel. Or rather, a coming-of-age novel about a man who is forced to come of age years after he should have come of age. Funny, spot-on, and surprisingly moving, this is a wonderful novel that shows us that it's never too late to leave home and grow up." Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?

"Intelligent and laden with surprises. This marvelous and wittily titled novel is full of news of the way we live now." Lorrie Moore, author of I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home