The protagonists in all the stories are young women coming-of-age and exploring their relationships with men, particularly with their fathers. All these women fit into the same mold as Broyard: they all come from upper-middle-class backgrounds and they all have fathers who are charismatic, worldly, and wise. Essentially, the father in each of Broyard's stories could be the same man. The father in "The Trouble with Mr. Leopold" is a writer, the father in "A Day in the Country" and "Snowed In" is an orchestra conductor, and the father in "At The Bottom of the Lake" is a lawyer.

All of these men are smart, literary, and articulate, like Broyard's own father, and as their stories unfold, they all reveal a side of themselves that their daughters never before recognized. It is difficult to see our fathers in contexts other than as fathers, but...