Backspring

When Eduardo, a brilliant but struggling architect, is falsely accused of arson, he falls into a debilitating spiral that threatens to ruin his marriage to Geneviève. She in turn seeks refuge in her research on exotic fungi, in the strange shapes and glossy colours of indigo milkcaps, bitter oysters, golden jelly, black earth tongues. But even her fondness for classifying things - she even catalogues her own orgasms - offers no clues to Eduardo's mysterious disintegration. As Eduardo descends further into anger and despondency, and root of his predicament fails, she finds herself being drawn romantically to Eduardo's closest friend - putting her marriage and her husband's sanity in jeopardy. -- cover