Able Was I

by Drew Banks

In reality Napoleon Bonaparte never said, "Able was I ere I saw Elba," but the famous palindrome persists and indeed, evokes myriad imaginings of his 1814 exile to the tiny island.

Grey Tigrett discovers Elba under different circumstances and in another century. It's 1985: he's on a college graduation trip, a vacation on which he hopes to transfer his sexual desire from Pete, his best friend, to Miriam, his girlfriend. Nothing goes as planned. A mishap sidetracks them to Elba where Grey's sexual desire is indeed transferred—not to Miriam but to Antonio, a married Italian man who opens his home to the threesome when they can't find a hotel room. To avoid facing the implication of his actions, Grey retreats to the exile of his dreamy, analytic mind.

Fifteen years later Grey is a successful computer sales executive with a longtime boyfriend, living in New York's trendy meatpacking district. On paper he has it all, but in truth he is more disabled than ever. Grey and Scott have constructed a fabulous life that is totally alien to Grey, and to escape it he withdraws further into himself. In his rationalized world he is emotionally impotent, yet he becomes intrigued with a few people outside his social circle—a teenager who walks his dog, an addict who frequents his stoop, and his Gen-Y temp secretary who refuses a permanent position—and fantasizes them safe role models of an engaged, vicarious life.

During an annual sales conference cruise, the Mediterranean reawakens Grey. He disrupts the comforting predictability of his business life by challenging his boss and opening up to a colleague, something he hasn't done since college. When a storm redirects the ship to Elba, a second unexpected adventure on the island requires that Grey retrace his steps and consider the repercussions of fifteen years prior.

After his return to New York, three pivotal events transform the lives of his vicarious trio and destroy Grey's psychological safety net. Rather than meeting Scott for their millennium vacation, Grey disappears to Elba. While on this third visit, Grey gets the opportunity to recast his life. On the island he forges new relationships with ties to the past that only he can understand. The compelling resolution of his journey is as unpredictable as it is inspiring.

In the end—like Napoleon before him—Grey is forced to examine the depths of his exile. For both men, Elba marks a critical turning point from which they either exhaust or draw their power.

312 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2005

About the author

https://www.instagram.com/drewbanksau...

I'm a San Francisco-based novelist and retired tech entrepreneur with an MBA from MIT and a certificate in creative writing from Oxford. My fiction explores identity, desire, and the psychological forces that shape how we navigate trauma and belonging.

I'm the author of The Elba Trilogy — Able Was I, Ere I Saw Elba, and I Before E — three interconnected novels spanning New York, Paris, and Italy, examining exile, memory, and the long shadow of family history. Twenty-five years in the making, the complete trilogy is now collected in a single omnibus edition published in July 2026.

I've been featured on NPR's The State of Things and at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival. The Elba Trilogy has been praised by NYT-bestselling authors and compared to Pachinko, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Reviews

[Kristy Lin Billuni · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Able Was I's early writing stage, author Drew Banks pitched his story to a well-known literary agent, touting it as mainstream literary fiction. The agent was doubtful.

"Is the main character gay?" he asked. The answer was yes. "Is there gay sex in it?" he demanded. Again, Banks answered yes. "Then it's gay fiction, period," the agent declared.

But Able Was I challenges the notion that novels with gay central characters and gay sex can only be marketed to a gay fiction audience. Grey Tigrett's psychological journey is more Everyman than Ellen; the characters that guide and hinder him along the way feel like people we all know: devoted but goofy Miriam, tall, dark, and handsome Antonio, petty and annoying Scott, desperate and downtrodden Jimmy, young and vibrant John, and Paolo, who finally tells Grey what he needs to hear. Each character is intriguing and well developed enough to deserve novels of their own.

Having worked closely with Banks on his word choice and sentence structure, I'm hesitant to comment on the writing except to say that I'm proud to have been involved with this project and that Banks is a writer who cares about every single word he puts down.

I loved this novel when I first read it, and I look forward to reading it again. A longtime fan of the music and story of the off-Broadway smash, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, I identified with Grey's intense and sorrowful experience of that show, which happens to premiere in the building next door to the main character's trendy flat. Travelers of Europe and lovers of Manhattan will feel a similar familiarity with the settings and narrative of Grey's experience. And anybody-gay, straight, bisexual, or otherwise-will relate to Grey's struggle to know himself.

[Clifton Meek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I’ve read this book three times now (once when I first bought it, and again before reading parts two and three of the trilogy) and I fall more in love with it each time. It flows seamlessly back and forth between memories and the present day, allowing it to provide an incredible depiction of both mid-life and coming-of-age. It captures so many familiar experiences with such beauty and honesty: sexual awakening, the uncomfortable conversations between fathers and sons, the college-era desire to escape home and reinvent yourself, the ways in which your first post-college trip can shape you for a lifetime, relationships that linger past their expiration date, how the beauty of a place can shift with your mood…Every time I read it I connect with some new clever detail, masterfully woven in by the author. The writing is so clear and vivid that every setting and character feels fully realized; it truly has a cinematic quality. Even the characters you want to hate grow on you through the brief glimpses of humanity the author offers at just the right times. I cannot recommend this book enough.

[Leslie Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Drew Bank’s first work of fiction and it does not disappoint! The story of a confused, lost young man is the first in a trilogy. The central theme of all three stories is self-exile. I recommend reading all three books in order.

Banks starts by exploring his protagonist’s literal and figurative journey. The two novels that follow are similar in that respect, with time jumps and intertwining characters. For me, this first novel packed the biggest emotional punch, not just understanding his central character, Grey, but also the people Grey meets as he travels and later returns to Elba.

I actually read the last book in the trilogy first, just to see if it could stand on its own. And while it can, I found myself so curious to understand more that I immediately started Able Was I. Of the three, this was my favorite in terms of Banks’ literary voice. I highly recommend!

[Michael Richter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Able Was I the first in a trilogy by Drew. I found it thought-provoking, even if I didn’t fully connect with the main character who I found to be complex and hard to like—entitled, self-focused, and at times manipulative. But it made me think and to me, that’s what makes a good read because it elicited a reaction and emotions.

What kept me engaged was the question of whether he would grow or develop more self-awareness. I really enjoyed following the journey geographically across continents and through different time periods. I appreciated the exploration of ego, identity, and self-acceptance.

This was definitely an interesting character study which kept me wanting to know what would happen next and by who.

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Able Was I by Drew Banks is one of those books that sneaks up on you with its depth. Starting with a life-changing experience on Elba in 1985—the way Banks writes about Grey’s struggles feels real and made me reflect alongside the character. The settings, especially New York and Italy almost feel like characters themselves. It’s not overly dramatic or heavy-handed, which I really appreciated. If you’re into stories that make you reflect on your own choices and where they’ve led you, this is a great pick.

[Kensmith662comcast.Net · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the ride with Grey, partly because I identified so much with the confusion and yearning of his quest for a life that is raw, true, and in the present. Seeking to escape his ghosts and his ideas of what "should be," Grey's cathartic adventure became my own. What more can one ask from a book?

It's a introspective read that is engaging and paced such that I whipped through it. It's a wonderful, well-crafted novel -- and impressive that it's the author's first one.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the deeply human portrayal of Grey's journey—one that feels both personal and universal. From his transformative summer on the Italian island of Elba to his disenchanted but comfortable life in New York City, this story is a beautiful meditation on identity, longing, and the elusive nature of happiness. The writing is evocative and the settings transport you.

[Leslie Stern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just reread this after many years. It's a beautiful story with characters and situations that everyone can recognize and relate to. With fantastic depictions of two of my favorite places (NYC and Italy), it's a beautiful and thoughtful story. Highly recommend!

[Kim Daus-Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT! Creative, full of wit and insight.

[Tarek Ibrahim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read this first part, but I loved it. Lyrically beautiful, haunting. I think I was too young when I read it the first time. It's time to reread it again as a grown (read: older) man.

[Steve Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read into the wee hours of the morning today because I could not put down this book. Mr. Banks's writing is so engrossing; I ditched the idea to describe it as captivating, as that evokes a frivilous quality found so often in gay fiction, but which is refreshingly absent in "Able Was I". There was none of the cynical underbelly found in Stephen McCauley's work, none of the bitchy repartee reminiscent of the movie Priscilla, and no gratuitous graphic sex scenes to keep the reader titillated. In their place was an amazingly profound journey of a man searching for his path in life. Grey is a character with a sense of direction and purpose, but his compass is spinning wildly out of control. It was amazing to read his interactions with the other characters in the book, and to really, really experience those emotions as well. The tenuousness of innuendo, the mystery of truncated bits of information, the tenderness and passion - rather than animal sex - infused a credibility in the story that is rare in writing.

Lest I seem a bit too complimentary, I did have a couple small problems with some conversational language near the end, and the cover photo far too closely resembled cover shots on recently released books "At Swim, Two Boys" and "Back Where He Started". It made me erroeously think that perhaps this wasn't as original as it was.

But it IS original, and wonderfully written.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man comes of age, discovering more and more about himself, both his sexuality and his relationships in the world. I especially appreciated the vivid descriptions of Elba and NYC. Long after reading it, its places are still vivid: the hotel, the rowboat, the apartment, the house. I felt like I was really transported. I also liked the themes of isolation and the choices that Grey finds himself making throughout the course of the book.