Robert Prentice is 18, and his dreams have disintegrated on the battlefields of Europe. At home, his mother, Alice, wraps herself in fantasy against the relentless disappointments of life. This novel describes post-war America, at odds with its identity, striving to combine prosperity and ideals, me...

Robert Prentice is 18, and his dreams have disintegrated on the battlefields of Europe. At home, his mother, Alice, wraps herself in fantasy against the relentless disappointments of life. This novel describes post-war America, at odds with its identity, striving to combine prosperity and ideals, mercilessly exposed in the attempt to do so.