--- product_id: 95233878 title: "The Great Believers" price: "₱870" currency: PHP in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.ph/products/95233878-the-great-believers store_origin: PH region: Philippines --- # The Great Believers **Price:** ₱870 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Great Believers - **How much does it cost?** ₱870 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ph](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/95233878-the-great-believers) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description WINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019 FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS A New York Times Top Ten Best Book of 2018 'I loved this book' Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup: bringing an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDs epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, he finds his partner is infected, and that he might even have the virus himself. The only person he has left is Fiona, Nico's little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago epidemic, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways the AIDS crisis affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. Yale and Fiona's stories unfold in incredibly moving and sometimes surprising ways, as both struggle to find goodness in the face of disaster. WINNER OF THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK A BUZZFEED BOOK OF THE YEAR Review: A new favourite. - Oh THIS BOOK 🥹🥹 I honestly don’t understand why this doesn’t have the same level of hype as A Little Life because it has all the best elements of it (beautiful queer love stories and friendships, an emotional storyline that will break your heart), but it’s grounded in true history and has more to it than the trauma. This is a dual timeline novel that explores the utter devastation of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s in Chicago, along with the horrendous way gay men were treated in the news and by the public because of it. Our main character in the 80s timeline is Yale, who is just the most wonderful human being that you’ll be rooting for throughout, but we watch on as the disease rages through his friendship group. We also get to explore the art world, which I always find fascinating, and the later timeline is set in Paris where we follow Fiona, the sister of one of Yale’s friends who we lose early on, who really ended up caring for so many of them and experiencing the trauma time and time again. I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but it’s truly a heartbreaking and harrowing novel at times, and I sobbed for about twenty minutes after finishing it. But the friendships are so damn special, as is Yale, and the Paris storyline did offer some relief from the tragedy at times. This was my first book club pick, and I’m so happy I finally picked it up - the majority of the response was positive, and I’ve personally found one of my forever favourites here. It feels like such an important and necessary novel so we never become complacent. Review: A confronting and sad read with excellent characters - I absolutely loved ‘A Little Life’ and ‘The Heart's Invisible Furies’, they are a couple of my all time favourite books so when I saw that ‘The Great Believers’ was being favourably compared to them, I was excited to read it. We start in 1985 with the main character, Yale Tishman. Yale is a director for an art gallery in Chicago and is about to bring in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Just as we see Yale’s career start to take off, so does the AIDs epidemic and one by one, Yale's friends are dying. Another character we follow is Fiona, the little sister of one of Yale’s friends who has died. We spend most of time with Fiona thirty years later as she is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. Fiona stays with an old friend and famous photographer who documented the Chicago AIDs epidemic and she finds herself coming face to face with that time of her life and reflecting on what she lived through and all the friends she lost. I found myself absorbed into this story straight away. I love it when an author successfully weaves multiple timelines together and draws out our learnings of the characters over time. The parallel paths is one of my favourite narratives, it isn’t easy to do but here it is done really well. This book is heartbreaking and joyous in equal measure. The characters are rich and it’s easy to love them with all their faults, triumphs and struggles, especially Yale. I liked finding out about how the AIDS crisis affected the community in an American city in the eighties from a human and social perspective because this was not something I lived through. We see the very best and the very worst of humanity when faced with a medical and humanitarian crisis and it felt like this was portrayed well. The storyline of Yale getting the art collection was excellent and his relationship and work dramas but there were a few of Fiona’s chapters in Paris that seemed a bit drawn out, they seemed to slow the story down somewhat and I never really understood the estrangement of Claire from Fiona or the importance of Kurt…it seemed like a bit of an afterthought storyline. Same with the guy Fiona met on the plane.. Overall I enjoyed this book and I’ll search out more from this author. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | 577,923 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) 394 in Social Sciences (Books) 755 in Literary Fiction (Books) 1,250 in Contemporary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 14,699 Reviews | ## Images ![The Great Believers - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71zMz61wORL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A new favourite. *by T***Y on 1 November 2024* Oh THIS BOOK 🥹🥹 I honestly don’t understand why this doesn’t have the same level of hype as A Little Life because it has all the best elements of it (beautiful queer love stories and friendships, an emotional storyline that will break your heart), but it’s grounded in true history and has more to it than the trauma. This is a dual timeline novel that explores the utter devastation of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s in Chicago, along with the horrendous way gay men were treated in the news and by the public because of it. Our main character in the 80s timeline is Yale, who is just the most wonderful human being that you’ll be rooting for throughout, but we watch on as the disease rages through his friendship group. We also get to explore the art world, which I always find fascinating, and the later timeline is set in Paris where we follow Fiona, the sister of one of Yale’s friends who we lose early on, who really ended up caring for so many of them and experiencing the trauma time and time again. I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but it’s truly a heartbreaking and harrowing novel at times, and I sobbed for about twenty minutes after finishing it. But the friendships are so damn special, as is Yale, and the Paris storyline did offer some relief from the tragedy at times. This was my first book club pick, and I’m so happy I finally picked it up - the majority of the response was positive, and I’ve personally found one of my forever favourites here. It feels like such an important and necessary novel so we never become complacent. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A confronting and sad read with excellent characters *by S***E on 4 November 2025* I absolutely loved ‘A Little Life’ and ‘The Heart's Invisible Furies’, they are a couple of my all time favourite books so when I saw that ‘The Great Believers’ was being favourably compared to them, I was excited to read it. We start in 1985 with the main character, Yale Tishman. Yale is a director for an art gallery in Chicago and is about to bring in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Just as we see Yale’s career start to take off, so does the AIDs epidemic and one by one, Yale's friends are dying. Another character we follow is Fiona, the little sister of one of Yale’s friends who has died. We spend most of time with Fiona thirty years later as she is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. Fiona stays with an old friend and famous photographer who documented the Chicago AIDs epidemic and she finds herself coming face to face with that time of her life and reflecting on what she lived through and all the friends she lost. I found myself absorbed into this story straight away. I love it when an author successfully weaves multiple timelines together and draws out our learnings of the characters over time. The parallel paths is one of my favourite narratives, it isn’t easy to do but here it is done really well. This book is heartbreaking and joyous in equal measure. The characters are rich and it’s easy to love them with all their faults, triumphs and struggles, especially Yale. I liked finding out about how the AIDS crisis affected the community in an American city in the eighties from a human and social perspective because this was not something I lived through. We see the very best and the very worst of humanity when faced with a medical and humanitarian crisis and it felt like this was portrayed well. The storyline of Yale getting the art collection was excellent and his relationship and work dramas but there were a few of Fiona’s chapters in Paris that seemed a bit drawn out, they seemed to slow the story down somewhat and I never really understood the estrangement of Claire from Fiona or the importance of Kurt…it seemed like a bit of an afterthought storyline. Same with the guy Fiona met on the plane.. Overall I enjoyed this book and I’ll search out more from this author. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wonderful read *by R***A on 1 March 2026* Beautiful, moving - an incredibly well written novel. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.ph/products/95233878-the-great-believers](https://www.desertcart.ph/products/95233878-the-great-believers) --- *Product available on Desertcart Philippines* *Store origin: PH* *Last updated: 2026-05-31*