The Conditions of Love

Set in the Midwest in the last years of the fifties and filled with a cast of beguiling, unforgettable characters, this mesmerizing novel traces, in three parts, the ever-changing landscape of love in the life of young Eunice. In the first part, Eunice must reckon with familial love - in this case, from a seductively eccentric mother and an idealized, absent father. The second leg of Eunice's journey to adulthood introduces her to the steadiness of a nurturing love through her relationship with a mysterious stranger named Rose. Finally, in the third act, Eunice is initiated into the world of passionate love.