Showing results by narrator "Suzanne Torren" in All Categories

An elaboration of some of David Leavitt's early stories, Equal Affections - his second novel - is about the family of a woman, Louise Cooper, who is dying of cancer. The family has other problems: Nat, Louise's husband, is having an affair; her daughter April, a lesbian with a thriving career as a singer, finds herself pregnant; and her son, Danny, also gay, is worried about his lover's commitment to him.

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods and other calamities have caused the townsfolk to lose their library, their school, their park and all sense of what it means to be generous and kind. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. Only the clever orphans of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town's problems are. When one of the orphans goes missing from the Orphan House, all eyes turn to the Ogress.