Edward R. Williams is in a terrible state. Set adrift in a world gone awry, he drinks far too much. His hearing is bad, accentuating his emotional numbness; he has felt lost and wandered the world since the end of the war, reeling from the death of his beloved brother Jimmy. Pitched up in San Francisco, he has vaguely befriended an arty set. Rhoda Romero, Avery Bird, Banner Hope and Melsie Stone Ponting are all somewhat bemused by him, but...