Preview of Picturing Will Summary:

The central theme of Picturing Will is the nurturing of a child. The major adult and child characters are seen as they touch the life of the boy Will, whose future is threatened when his father abruptly deserts the family shortly after presenting his mother with a bouquet of flowers. Will's situation reflects the plight of many modern-day children who are compromised emotionally and financially by divorce. Yet Will's problems have only begun with the departure of his father, for the boy is later subjected to other disturbing encounters with "adult" life.

These include the sexual abuse of a slightly older friend, Spencer, by D. B. Haverford, aptly nicknamed Haveabud, Will's photographer mother's agent, who also is Mel's old school friend.

(Spencer, whose mother is on her third husband, is the son of a former male business partner and lover of Haverford's.) Throughout most...