The Brass Bed
(Doubleday & Company, 1986)
Duncan Jones, a top Boston journalist, feels trapped in an emotional limbo. Devastated by the breakup of his fourteen-year marriage to a successful attorney, his growing disillusionment with his career only increases his sense of doubt and despair. By chance, he meets Nina,a woman struggling to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life. Recently arrived in Boston, Nina is haunted by the accidental death of her longtime (and very married) French lover, the father of her baby daughter. Although an immediate attraction develops, the two are understandably hesitant to expose themselves to the uncertainties of a new relationship. Carefully, deliberately, the barriers of the past surrounding Duncan and Nina begin to crumble as they cautiously allow themselves the freedom and the joy of expressing their true feelings. But, along the way, they will still encounter many detours and obstacles, for in the end, both must come to terms with the painful dilemma of truly letting go ... in order to hold on.