Occasion for Loving

Jessie and Tom Stilwell keep open house. They are determined to maintain the integrity of personal relations despite the distortions of law and society. The novel explores the impact on their home of Boaz Davis and his wife Ann, who arrive from England, and Gideon Shibalo, the Stilwells' black friend, with whom Ann starts a love affair. Ann's adventure with Africa is dramatically concurrent with events involving Jessie's strange relationship with her mother and stepfather, and her son from a previous marriage.