Set in the last 19th and early 20th centuries, it is a story of Van Tassel and Ms. Bliss, which begins with them going to teas, taking walks and exchanging books. During this proper courtship, Van Tassel grows with desire, which eventually turns into an obsession.
Though I am not a fan of the romance genre, I found this romantic novel to be well written. Shreve is especially good at painting details by describing clothes, furnishings and architecture in a way that is appealing and light.
The story develops slowly at the beginning but gains momentum somewhere towards the middle, proving to be an engaging study of passions of the mind.
Below are a few quotations on point:
"How much of love is a trick of the mind, a mere feat of verbal acrobatics, to accomodate persons who just happen to cross our paths and who suit our needs at one particular moment in time?"
"The heart may love, but the mind does not. The heart has no mind and the mind has no heart. They are two separate organs, often at war with one another."
"Passion both erodes and enhances character in equal measure, and not slowly but instantly, and in a such a manner that what is left not in balance but is thrown desperately out of kilter in both directions. The erosion the result of the willingess to do whatever is necessary to obtain the object of ones' desire, even if it means engaging in lies or deception or debasing what was ones treasured. The enhancement a result of the knowledge that one is capable of loving greatly, an understanding that leaves one, paradoxicaly, with a feeling of gratitude and pride in spite of all the carnage."
"Love, which just moments ago I had thought too domestic and tame a word for my nearly transcendent feelings, was replaced by something for which I have never been able to find a suitable name: the helplessness that descends when a cherished object has been stolen, the anger that one feels when one has been deceived."
