Elaine

This is a vivid portrait of one year (1954–55) in the increasingly disordered, unhappy life of Elaine Hancock, who is married to John, a Milton scholar at Cornell University. They have one son, Billy. Elaine’s been in therapy, was once treated in a psychiatric facility, and has had a couple of disappointing affairs. John either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care; they haven’t had a good marriage for years. John’s life is dominated by university politics. Elaine’s role in this claustrophobic universe is to be a good housekeeper, befriend the right people, and say the right things. If only life could be arranged like ironing, all the wrinkles and blemishes smoothed out. Their false-sophisticate friends drink too much and even exchange wives at necking parties. Elaine daydreams of an affair with Ted, a sociologist, but in the end, it’s John who deceives her after he’s awarded a Fulbright, and they prepare for a year abroad. Can they reset their marriage? And in the greater world, academics—John among them—scurry to hide their past infatuation with communism, and the Russians detonate their first hydrogen bomb.