An intense psychological novel, this book focuses on a young woman's dependence on her husband and her attempts to forge an independent life for herself. Rosa, a frail, sensitive American Jew living in Paris, marries an alcoholic expatriate from Chile and finds herself trapped in a sadomasochistic relationship. Amid a series of fast-moving events--the birth of their daughter, moving to Rosa's parents' home and then to Sausalito, California, and various sexual encounters--this narrative explores Antonio's fears and failures as well as Rosa's implicit trust in him to direct her life....