"A fast-moving, authoritative storythe lawyer at the center of
Stein's maelstrom is a realistic archetype of the kind of advocate that this country
created by mistakeand now needs in much greater numbers."F. Lee Bailey

What does a man know about love? This is the story of three very different men in love
with the same woman. It is also the story of that woman, Francine Widmer.

Francine, twenty-seven, beautiful, intelligent, and resourceful, insists on running her own
life. Suddenly, control of Francine's life falls apart when she is raped and she finds that
the doctors and the police are indifferent to the enormity of the crime. Francine wants
revenge, and she selects as her instrument the best criminal lawyer in the country. Then
more secrets of the dark side of love come to light through the rapist's wife and the
attorney's immigrant father.

As each brilliantly rendered character brings his or her case to center stage, we see how
varied the shapes of love are, until there comes the one that proves irresistible. This is the
triumphant story about the true source of all of life's difficult problems and exciting
opportunities: other people.

Sol Stein is a prize-winning playwright produced on Broadway, an anthologized poet, the author of nine novels, and an award-winning teacher of writers. He has edited some of the most successful writers of the century and is the author of Stein on Writing and How to Grow a Novel and is the creator of the computer programs WritePro®, FictionMaster®, and FirstAid for Writers®.

Marguerite Gavin grew up on the Chesapeake Bay. She holds an M.F.A. in acting and a B.F.A. in theater. An actress working in theater and audiobook narration, she is also artistic director of a youth theater program. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and son.