Foreword
The past five years have seen a great many startling-some might even say shocking changes in the American way of life. Particularly among the young, new methods of solving old problems have been very much in vogue. Seeking alternatives to the life styles and values of their elders, they embark on strange experiments in free love, communal living, trial marriages, and other innovations.
And who can say they are entirely wrong? For years the emptiness of the affluent suburban life has been a topic of discussion and concern in national magazines and newspapers. The statistics of divorce, alcoholism, wife swapping, and nervous breakdowns among the middle-aged speak eloquently of a painful lack in the lives of those who, in other times, would have served as examples and guides to the young. Who can blame them for rejecting the moral values and social customs so obviously unsatisfying to their elders?
Sad to say, however, the innocence of youth often leaves it prey to the unscrupulous designs of those who turn every attempt at constructive change to their own advantage. Motivated by the highest ideals, young people often throw themselves into the mainstream of modern life too soon, and discover when it is too late that they are ill-equipped to recognize and combat the moral and emotional snares that surround them.
One such couple is Ralph and Barbara Williams. Only recently married, they are trying to make their way in the world without the help and guidance of parents. He is a struggling law student, and she, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who disowned her when she married her socially "inferior" husband; they are straining to adjust to the emotional, financial and sexual demands of marriage, with no star to guide them, nowhere to turn in difficulty.
In a sincere effort to find help for their mounting difficulties, they are introduced to the Life Unlimited House, a bizarre communal living arrangement run by amoral and depraved people. Suddenly, exposed to a decadence beyond their wildest dreams, their lives are swept out of their own control into a moral twilight world from which one doubts they will ever emerge unscathed.
Their true to life story is told with searing honesty by author Mark Townsend, whose vivid prose will keep the reader absorbed from start to finish. There are those who may find this novel too brutal, too honest, but the discerning will realize that it exposes an aspect of modern life that cannot be ignored. If the values that we cherish are to survive this confused and confusing time, we must be aware of where the dangers lie.
We, the publishers, are grateful to Mr. Townsend for this evocative novel, which may well become one of the classics of its time.
-The Publishers Sausalito, California June, 1972