Intimate Strangers

Two women confide over coffee about relationships which are rewarding but hurtful, in which they have been intimate yet remained strangers. They agree that "the sex is fabulous and he tries to be caring, but it takes such a long time for a man to grow up."It takes Assistant Professor Eric Johnson fifteen years to grow up, starting at age thirty. While married with twin daughters three lovers - from Indonesia, China and India -challenge his sensitivity even as they enlarge his self-understanding.This story ruthlessly explores and exposes tenderly what goes on inside of one man -whose veneer of maturity is fooling no one before it is stripped away by the remarkable women in his life.To the delight of two of these women Eric has done a lot of growing by age forty-five.Three kinds of lively discussion starters for book groups are included.

Sixth generation Australian Reginald Smart was a Singapore architect in the fifties, a Harvard chaplain in the sixties and a SUNY college dean in the seventies. Subsequently he has been a leader in the fields of male/female and intercultural communication. He has led numerous men''s support groups, counseled hundreds of couples, negotiated inter-university agreements in eleven countries, and consulted with major international corporations such as Westinghouse and AT&T. Currently he spends most of his time writing, gardening, hiking, and mediating marital disputes at a center he co-founded in Washington State. A seasoned author of non-fiction, this is his first novel.