On the surface Larissa Demming is

a happily married woman. She dabbles

in watercolors, indulges her husband,

a preoccupied professor, and worries

about her alarmingly practical chil-

dren. She is indifferent to anything

that would expose her true feelings.

That is, until a walk along the river-

front near her midwestern home brings

her face to face with the sensuous

satyr Pan. It is Pan who at last

unleashes her long-dormant sexuality

and frees her to confront her secret

desires and her hidden past.

Mrs. Detaining and the Mythical

Beast is Faith Sullivan s most exhil-

arating novel yet, a seemingly whim-

sical yet provocative odyssey that

moves from buoyant comedy to

romantic fantasy to gripping drama.

Larissa Detaining knows that once she becomes involved with Pan, her

life--and the lives of everyone around

her--will never be the same. Yet she

does, and we move with her, from the

Minnesota countryside to the Greek

isles, where Pan forces her to confront

herself and her forbidden past.

Faith Sullivan s first novel, Repent,

Lanny Merkel, was hailed by the Los

Angeles Times as "a very funny tale of

modern-day morality." The West Coast

Review of Books* also said, "Move

over, Jean Kerr, move over Erma

Bombeck and Judith Guest, for Faith

Sullivan has entered the scene," and

Library Journal compared her to Erica

Jong and Gail Parent.

In Mrs. Detaining and the Mythical

Beast, Faith Sullivan has created an

enchanting story about the risks and

rewards of releasing our own very real

beasts.