The Elba Trilogy
112925smaller.jpeg)
"...More than captivating...totally engrossing, the characters are almost frighteningly real...After having read just a few pages, I recognized [Banks’] rare literary quality."
—Dirk Kriete, ScotsGay
"...A lyrical, almost poetic novel…It reminds me of Zora Neale Hurston in a lot of ways in Their Eyes Were Watching God."
—Frank Stasio, NPR
"Complex family dynamics, emotionally charged psychology, generational trauma, and a sexual awakening ..."
—Kilian Melloy, film, TV, theater, & literary critic
More Praise for The Elba Trilogy
“[Banks] takes apart the physical and emotional aspect of a scene to give the reader a collage of images and words that seem to be reflected in splinters of a shattered mirror.”
—Rebecca James, Letters from CAMP Rehoboth
“The intelligent style and wit make Able Was I more than a symbolic turn of phrase; it is a brilliant read.”
—Randy Hope, Dot News
“Banks … eschews the droll humor that has become de rigeur in so many gay novels, and writes with a refreshing seriousness of purpose and eye for detail.”
—Christopher Cappiello, IN Los Angeles
.png)
.png)
About The Elba Trilogy
Drew Banks’s Elba trilogy—Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba, and I Before E—is a multigenerational literary fiction series set between New York, París, and across Italy, and exploring themes of identity, exile, and chosen family.
On February 1, 2000, atop a rooftop terrace overlooking Rome, Grey Tigrett hosts a 50th birthday celebration for the mother of Paolo Viglietti — a young Italian-American man he befriended during an unexpected detour of his cruise ship to the island of Elba.
Suspicious of Grey’s generosity, Maria’s lifelong friend, Brigitte Crémieux, leaves Elba for only the second time in her adult life to attend the party. But her concern for Maria and Paolo is eclipsed when she arrives and is greeted by the party’s surprise guests.
Across the three novels, Drew Banks traces the intertwined backstories of Grey, Brigitte, and Paolo — exposing the pivotal events that brought them to this fated night, when each must confront the singular core belief that has shaped their life.
This genre-blending trilogy will captivate readers who enjoy LGBTQ+ literature, coming-of-age journeys, historical fiction, family drama, romance, mysteries, European settings, and evocative “armchair travel” storytelling.
About the Author
Drew Banks is a San Francisco–based novelist and retired tech entrepreneur. He holds an MBA from MIT and a certificate in creative writing from Oxford. His fiction explores psychological motivation, behavioral patterns, and the experience of exile in its many forms.
He is the author of The Elba Trilogy, which includes Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba, and I Before E. The novels stand on their own while sharing intersecting narratives and a common focus on displacement and personal reckoning.