Crucial Conversations

"May Sarton's provocative novel is about a wife who has outgrown her husband, and after twenty-seven years of marriage decides that she has had enough. . . . she is altogether believable." -- The Atlantic Reed and Poppy Whitelaw's conventional and apparently serene life together is shattered when Poppy tells Reed that she has decided to leave him. In a series of encounters that follow the shock of this news, which affects not only Reed but also their children and friends -- in particular Philip, who must learn why he is so invested in their marriage -- Reed and Poppy struggle to make sense of their lives in this alien new terrain.