About the Book

Lightly drawing on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, the acclaimed author of Hemingway's Suitcase sets his story against the eccentricities and decadences of a wealthy California beach community. At the center is a rich widower who counted his late wife among his most valuable possessions. Harry hopes to possess his new, powerfully sexual housekeeper, but finally encounters his own complicated fate.

Book Synopsis

Lightly drawing on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, the acclaimed author of Hemingway's Suitcase sets his story against the eccentricities and decadences of a wealthy California beach community.

At the center is a rich widower who counted his late wife among his most valuable possessions. Harry hopes to possess his new, powerfully sexual housekeeper, but finally encounters his own complicated fate.

From the Back Cover

Harris sets his tale against the decadent eccentricities of a wealthy California beach community. At the center is Harry, a handsome gallery owner, an epicurean lover of all things beautiful, a man who counted his late wife among his most valuable possessions. When he hires Velda Venn, an unsophisticated yet powerfully sexual housekeeper, the order of his exquisite household is gradually subverted. Like the pull of the ocean waves outside his window, Velda draws Harry from calm self-absorption to erotic obsession. He must possess her - and a spectacular painting that changes everything, a painting that seems the very mirror of his strange, uncontrollable desire.

About the Author

Macdonald Harris was the pseudonym for Donald Heiney, an author, academic, and sailor from South Pasadena, California. He studied at the University of Redlands and served in the Navy during World War II. He is the author of several books, including The Balloonist. He received an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982.