Try free for 30 days

  • The Man on the Third Floor

  • By: Anne Bernays
  • Narrated by: Paul Michael
  • Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 rating)

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Man on the Third Floor cover art

The Man on the Third Floor

By: Anne Bernays
Narrated by: Paul Michael
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Walter Samson is a successful book editor in post-World War II New York. He has more than enough money, an interesting wife, two smart children, and reason to believe he’s leading the good American life - until a chance meeting with Barry Rogers. Barry is blue-collar, handsome, single, and poor.

Walter is instantly drawn to Barry, and despite the considerable risks, installs him in the Samson’s three-story house on the Upper East Side, where the two men try to keep their amorous relationship secret.

Against a backdrop of McCarthy-era fear, with its doleful consequences and with society’s pervasive homophobia, Walter manages to alter the direction and course of his life, losing much but gaining more.

Anne Bernays is the author of over a dozen books, including Growing up Rich. Her writing has appeared in the Nation and The New York Times, among others.

©2012 Anne Bernays (P)2012 Blackstone Audio

Critic Reviews

“It’s what Edith Wharton or Louis Auchincloss might have written had they been free to write about a middle-aged and apparently happy man who finds himself falling in love with another man.” (Michael Korda)
|“I just love this book. It’s my favorite of all her books by light-years.” (Annie Dillard, Pulitzer Prize–winning author)
"Bernays deftly articulates the difficulties faced by homosexuals during the McCarthy witch-hunt years…[She] explores a dramatic era in American history and the psyches of her characters with equal ease in this well-written and entertaining new novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Man on the Third Floor

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pleasantly surprised

The deep tone of the narrator and his pitch, drops and strength of voice gave this surprisingly open, non judgemental happy ending short story, something special.
Love is love, even in the 1950s.. worth the listen and relax

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.