First published 1974
Harold Roux sits in his middle-aged life when fragments of his younger self begin to surface. The memories arrive unbidden, pulling him back to a time when he was different, when possibilities stretched ahead like unmarked roads. He remembers the person he used to be, the choices he made, the paths he abandoned. As these recollections grow stronger, Harold must reconcile the man he became with the boy he once was. The present feels increasingly fragile as the past demands attention. His hair, now changed by time, becomes a symbol of all that has shifted. Harold discovers that some questions from youth never truly disappear. They wait, patient and persistent, until middle age forces a reckoning. Williams creates a portrait of a man caught between two versions of himself, neither fully real nor completely imagined.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, biographical-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Period: Middle Age
372 pages · Hardcover · Random House