The tension throughout Men and Angels is focused on the conflict between Anne Foster, the mother of two young children, and Laura Post, the young woman employed as their nanny. It is the very generosity and openness of Anne Foster's personality that blinds her to impending evil. Anne is portrayed as a fiercely loving woman with a strong sexual nature. In the absence of her husband, she turns to Ed Corcoran for sexual fulfillment, an act that Laura interprets as sin. While Anne is an attractive character, she is also naive and, perhaps, self-indulgent.

Laura clearly shows signs of instability that Anne cannot — or will not — see because she needs to complete her work. Whether this is a naive blindness to the situation or simply a failure to deal with the problem because her own work consumes her is not entirely clear. Not until Anne watches...