Geneva, 1904 - Newlyweds Katherine Dexter and Stanley McCormick stand
for their picture on the grounds of Prangins, Katherine's chateau in
Switzerland. She is 29, the first female graduate in the sciences of
M.I.T. and a leader in the budding Women's Movement. He is the youngest
son of Cyrus and Nettie McCormick, reluctant heir to a fortune built on
the Reaper. Socialite and millionaire, they are the match of the year --
and they seem to have fallen in love. But Stanley isn't well. He sees
things, hears voices, finds himself unable to control his violent
outbursts toward women. Shortly after the marriage, he is diagnosed as a
schizophrenic and sexual maniac, and his doctors - the best money can
buy - lock him away at Riven Rock. He is forbidden the company of
women - above all, his wife. Katherine can only watch her husband and
wait, crouched outside among the begonias with her binoculars, like a
field biologist studying the habits of some rare, wild animal. Yet she
returns every year, laden with gifts and news of the outside world,
continually hopeful: one day, she believes, one of the psychiatrists she
enlists will return Stanley to her, free of demons, a yearned-for lover.
In the hands of T. Coraghessan Boyle, these real characters out of
American history are transformed into rich mythic creations whose
tortured love and deep sense of fidelity, set against a backdrop of
wealth and privilege, will break your heart.
