Early in this delectable new novel by the author of A Diary of Love the narrator reads some notes that outline the life of her hero, Steve: “From innocence to carnal knowledge, to ideal love, to reality, to his code of behavior, ’I harm no one, so it’s not bad’.” And the reader enjoys the progress of this healthy young animal, who achieves a kind of “divine proportion” in spirit as well as body. From Steve’s first wrestle with fear tied to a pole as a train rushes by, from his first kiss, at six, with a girl named Ginger, to less innocent loves with an older girl and a fellow student, to a knowledge of his father’s wild anger and the hateful scheming of his best girl’s mother, to encounters with prostitutes and gunmen in Chicago, he goes his difficult way toward maturity and the woman who tells the story.