Foreword
Normal. A frequently used word, yet a word whose exact meaning is as elusive as the term "perverse". What those two words imply seems to vary from nation to nation, from community to community, from person to person.
Among one African tribe it is considered obscene to expose one's back to others. In many Eskimo communities it is the height of hospitality for a man to offer his wife to a guest.
The Marlowes outwardly appear to be an average American family. Jack Marlowe is a typical-looking father, Claire Marlowe considers herself to be like today's housewife, and Susan Marlowe could pass for anybody's daughter. Yet the three of them behave in ways that many others would consider abnormal-Jack and Claire are devoted wife-swappers, and Susan believes that her parents are virtuous until she finds out the shocking truth about them. But even she is eventually convinced that they are doing nothing wrong.
And who is to say whether they are normal or perverse? A novel of major interest to any who hope to find and define their own standards of correct behavior.