Shy and plain, Leona writes books on seventeenth century love poetry, but her own experience of love is meager. Her last affair, if you can call it that, was nine years ago. Into her barren world of manuscripts walks Bliss. He is one step from illiterate, a gap-toothed bumpkin, a hillbilly. And married. He is also physically beautiful, and he does not seem to know that Leona is not."His lips searched hers; her answer was urgent. She reveled in her...