Set in America against the backgroud of the Cold war and the election of President Kennedy this story unfolds in a way that encompasses the mood of the era while allowing the characters room to breath.The main character Mary begins the novel woth the "perfect" life. She has a loving husband with a top job in the embassy and two adoring children. As the pages fly by we learn that not all is well in Mary's life, her husband Charlie starts to lose his grip in a battle with the bottle. Her children are sent off to boarding school in England.
Mary becomes involved with a journalist called Frank and thus ensues a series of adulterous visits to New York where instead of "writing a book", Mary becomes smitten by her new lover.
The reader is left breathless as the plot comes to an end.. will Mary go for the greener grass or will she face up to her duties to her poor husband and her ever changing children ?
