Joe Allston, the retired literary agent of Stegner's National Book
Award-winning novel, The Spectator Bird, returns in this disquieting
and keenly observed novel. Scarred by the senseless death of their son
and baffled by the engulfing chaos of the 1960s, Allston and his wife,
Ruth, have left the coast for a California retreat. And although their
new home looks like Eden, it also has serpents: Jim Peck, a messianic
exponent of drugs, yoga, and sex; and Marian Catlin, an attractive young
woman whose otherworldly innocence is far more appealing--and far more
dangerous.