In the novel's first part, we meet Paul McLeod, the patriarch, who is touring Greece after the death of his vivacious wife. The story of his infatuation with a young American artist he meets there, and his gesture toward a new freedom so late in life, segues into the tour de force of part two, where we reexperience the privileged but provincial world of the McLeods--and the cosmopolitan world of the West Village--from the perspective of Fenno, the eldest son. A lovable, slightly repressed but self-aware gay man, he leads the life of an aloof expatriate, trying to protect himself from emotional entanglement--until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. And in the final part, Fenno crosses paths with Fern, the woman who captivated his father in Greece ten years before and who is pregnant with a son she may decide to raise on her own. All the loves and losses of this rich, emotionally complex book come together in the fateful meeting of these two characters one exquisite night in June over a Long Island dinner table.

Glass's brilliantly conceived story and perfect pacing--the scenes carefully layered to encompass both surprising revelations and slowly simmering developments--announce her as a master of the novel form. Her sensitivity to the nuances of character and human relationships will make these particular characters and relationships simply unforgettable to anyone who picks up Three Junes.