Self Condemned tells the story of Professor Renarding who finds himself reduced to a position at a second-rate university in Canada after his resignation as an academic in London. He and his wife suffer through a bleak and oppressive isolation in a dreary and alien city.

The novel, a devastating, disturbing satire of life in wartime Canada, explores the difficulty individuals face as they struggle to adapt to new surroundings while preserving their sense of wholeness, as well as the bond that develops between people during a shared experience of isolation.