In Susan Minot's provocative new novel, Rapture, the tumultuous rise and fall of a romantic relationship provides the context for the exploration of the chasm between the experience of the mind and the experience of the body. Ex-lovers Kay Bailey and Benjamin Young meet once again after the drawn-out ending of their three-year affair and end up back in bed at Kay's apartment. As they lie together, they each play over in their minds the history of their relationship, culminating in this moment. While Kay and Benjamin connect physically, their minds travel on separate odysseys of self-discovery. Their encounter becomes imbued with vastly different meanings for each of them: for Kay, glorious possibility, and for Benjamin, depletion and hopelessness. With measured precision, Minot parses out the cacophony of the competing forces of intense physical desire, deep emotional needs, of self-delusion and of our inner and outer selves.