Profound & poignant, Perfume River is an examination of relationships, personal choice, & how war resonates down the generations. It is the finest novel yet from the Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Quinlan & his wife Darla teach at Florida State University. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam-war protests, now bears the fractures of time, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee & solitary jogging & separate offices. For Robert & Darla, the cracks remain below the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert`s own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy, who became estranged from the family as the Vietnam War intensified. William Quinlan, Robert & Jimmy`s father, a veteran of World War II, is coming to the end of his life, & aftershocks of war ripple across all their lives once again when Jimmy refuses to appear at his father`s bedside. & a disturbed homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a devastating impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.