Synopsis
Locked into a childless and passionless marriage, middle-aged university professor Roger Mitchell searches for sexual stimulation through serial seductions of his female students. At the start of the novel we find Roger, obviously uncomfortable and out of place, at a discotheque organized to welcome new students to the university. He is talking to seventeen year old Natalie, newly arrived in London and clearly susceptible to Roger's well practiced advances. Roger's wife Margaret has known for some time about her husband's 'flings', accepting that his position at the university, and the availability of young women, make his illicit relationships almost inevitable. On holiday in Portugal with their friends Dorothy and Frank Derby, freed by the hot sun, she allows herself to be seduced by Frank; neither of them aware that their lovemaking has been observed by Roger. Recognizing that his feelings for Natalie have deepened into love, Roger drives her to her home in a small cathedral city, where he learns about Natalie's troubled early life, and the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
Realizing that his marriage and his career are at serious risk, Roger reluctantly tries to end his relationship with Natalie; with wide reaching and tragic consequences.
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