Johnny Begoode

Johnny Begoode has an idyllic life as an expatriate English teacher in the South of France: a country home, a loving wife and children, financial security. But then news of the death of his mother coincides with the arrival in class of a new student-the beautiful, mysterious and seductive Angelique. These two events constitute a potent emotional cocktail that provokes a mid-life crisis which threatens Johnny's sanity and even his very existence. While Johnny's relationship with the girl is developing and turning sexual, through a series of flashbacks he relives some of the seminal events of his life: early separation axiety, an erotic infatuation with a nun, sexual abuse by a nun and a priest, a turbulant adolescence fueled by alcohol, and an incarceration. His later success in life and his spiritual search now clouded by the threat of a mental breakdown, the novel culminates in a grisly massacre. Or does it? It's up to the reader to decide.