The prize-winning author of Europa and Tongue of Flame "explores the nature of goodness and moral faith in this poignant, witty, and disturbing novel" (Library Journal).

George Crawley knows a thing or two about being good. After watching his missionary father die in Africa and his selfless mother get taken advantage of back in England, he knows that being good is for chumps. Looking out for himself, George has established a great career and even found a loving, wealthy wife. It's clear to George that he is master of his own destiny. Until destiny intervenes.

When his wife Shirley decides that she wants to have a child, George relents. But when his daughter is born, George must face an apparently insoluble problem. Except that the word 'insoluble' just isn't part of the man's vocabulary. Now he will stop at nothing to get his life back on the rails again.