The five novels which make up Cities of the Interior chart the inward journeys of three women, Lillian, Djuna, and Sabina, in their search for a sense of self through their relationships with men and with each other. Lillian is the focus of the first and last volumes; Djuna is the central figure in Children of the Albatross (1947) and The Four Chambered Heart (1950); Sabina is the spy in house of love in the penultimate novel.

Each of the women makes herself felt, either by her presence or through flashbacks of the central character, in each of the novels. They are companions, competitors and alter-egos of each other. None are fully developed, fully rounded characters. Yet, taken together, they present a fascinating multisided view of modern woman: her desires, deceptions, inner strength, and struggle to achieve the proper balance between dependence and self-reliance.

The primary concern in each novel...