The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf

Margaret Shoard is a theater actress living in New York city in the 1950s when Arsén’s latest historical novel (following Shoot the Moon) begins. Margaret has escaped a difficult background in the South and earned a place performing with the Bard Players. Many of the men in the Shakespearean company are veterans of World War II, and Margaret eventually marries Wesley, one of the theater troops’ up-and-coming stars. Wesley’s main romantic interests have been men, but the friendship between him and Margaret blossoms and becomes the foundation for a happy marriage. Margaret is cast as Lady Macbeth, and her absorption in the role unleashes psychic pain that wounds her and damages her marriage as well. Margaret and Wesley soon travel to New Mexico to perform in the Bard Players’ summer stock, where Margaret is prescribed addictive drugs, and another member of the company tempts them into sexual adventures that turn dangerous for her.