How is Eliza's divorce connected to the rise of 20th century quantum physics? Why does the steamy promise of a key to unlocking a door at a cheap motel' lead us to a consideration of Moby Dick? What does one physician's fake appointment book have to do with Columbus, werewolves and Fanny Burney's mastectomy? Goldbarth sets his story of love's daily pleasures and griefs upon a foundation of ever-branching footnotes. Along the way on this strange, mindbending journey, he shows us how our lives are both confused and empowered by the multilayered universe around us.'