Set in New York's SoHo district in the 1970s, the book chronicles three months in Beatrice's life. In this pre-gentrification era, SoHo was not the mecca of art galleries and upscale boutiques that it is today; instead, it was a crumbling neighborhood attracting drug addicts and struggling artists looking to live on the cheap. Beatrice has the misfortune of being married to one such artist, the foulmouthed painter Ned, who spends his time drinking, philandering, and verbally pummeling his wife into submission. Ned treats Beatrice with disrespect because she allows him to; at least, that's his justification for his cruel and unusual behavior. And Beatrice, who remembers the good times, never once contemplates fighting back: "She knew him," Spanidou writes. "Her own self she did not know. When things started to fall apart, no ground was left for her to stand on. She had given herself over to him completely. Without him, she believed, she was nothing."
It's difficult to feel invested in a character like Beatrice, who is little more than a cipher. But apparently that's enough for the men in her circle, a collection of would-be suitors that includes Ned's Vietnam-vet brother Cyril, string-bean musician Colin, and teenage junkie Chris. Then there's Faye Knowles, a busty and lusty soap actress who has known Beatrice since childhood. Faye objectifies Beatrice just as much as the men in the group, but she's the only one who sees the intelligence behind the beauty. Indeed, back in the day, Beatrice was a high achiever, a student who excelled at everything she tried. Faye sees the despairing Beatrice as a shell of her former self; like this reader, she longs to shake her old pal into action. Beatrice herself blames her beauty for her present-day problems. "An ugly woman, she imagined, knew she was loved for herself when she was loved."
