This book is composed of independent coming of age stories, told from the perspective of the following characters who each narrate their own story: Bernard, Louis, Neville, Jinny, Susan, Rhoda, and Percival.
First is Bernard. Bernard is an artist and a story-teller. Throughout his childhood, he developed a passion for the written word, and he began to collect phrases, ideas, and words so that he could use them in his own writing projects. He ends up becoming an accomplished author. Then we meet Louis. Louis tells us about his life on the fringe of society where he feels that he is rejected and outcast. His point of view is languishing and poetic, and he describes his melancholy.
Next we meet Neville. Neville is a gay man in a time when being gay was regarded with bitter judgment by many in his society. He comes to age as an outsider in his own way, but he continues his search for the one his heart longs for, loving various men along the way. He describes his love for men in a transcendental, religious way.
Throughout the plot, there has been mention of a seventh character who never speaks in the book. That character is Percival, a saintly figure who dies at sea during a British military venture in India. He dies halfway through the book, but each character knew him. We learn about Jinny, who describes her life as a person of incredible beauty. Things come easy for her, but she often feels constrained by the way people treat her. She is extremely zealous about her personal and social life. Unlike Jinny, Susan's life is not defined by social success. Susan leaves the city to the country where she spends her time privately dealing with her emotional relationship fear, failure, and motherhood.
Rhoda shares Susan's self-doubt. She tells us about her feelings of worthlessness, and about her life having struggled with severe depression and anxiety throughout her young adulthood. She read Shelly's poetry and identified with the poet's longing to be known and cherished by someone.
