Böcker av Clint Hull

An unnamed but fairly reliable author employs memoir, poetry, and fiction to identify nine women who influenced his life and contributed to his development as a writer: a young Japanese girl met during the occupation after World War II, a first love in college, a promiscuous woman in a room across the alley, an Austrian girl encountered on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, a first cousin in Vienna, a hospital nurse on the night shift, a captivating divorcee, a younger Viennese cousin, a poetess at a writers workshop. A story inspired by each of his muses rounds out the picture But what about his wife? Was Blake right in stating that a wife is not a muse? In the final section the author resolves this issue to his own satisfaction.

Drafted into the army at 18 during World War II, Chet Devlin must confront his sexual ambiguity and physical inadequacy. After basic training, he serves as a medic in the Philippines and occupied Japan. He proves himself in combat, and endures the suicide of a buddy who cannot accept the human suffering in Hiroshima. A romantic weekend in Nikko gives him a better understanding of forgiveness and the meaning of war and love.