Summary

The novel gives a search by an English prof. (Jim Truebig) through the past histories of two friends who do not know each other. He suspects similar past histories, and comes to believe that they did indeed share in some terrible experiences. They suffered--and he comes to a realization of that. Both were incest-victims: he must learn to think about that. The novel is a story of how he goes about doing this: Stella May Jones and Osvaldo Burroughs come through vividly in the process--first-rate people hobbled by early-life trauma.

Theme

This is an anti-incest book.