It is the summer of 1947, and Stingo is living in a boarding house in a leafy Brooklyn suburb. There he meets Nathan, a fiery Jewish intellectual; and Sophie, a beautiful and fragile Polish Catholic. Stingo is drawn into the heart of their passionate and destructive relationship as witness, confidant and supplicant....

The five personal and intensely powerful tales that make up this collection draw upon William Styron\"s real-life experiences in the US Marine Corps, and give us an insight into the early life of one of America\"s greatest modern writers....