Preview of Difficulties with Girls Summary:

In Difficulties with Girls, Amis returns to the relationship between Patrick Standish and his wife Jenny Standish, the characters from his novel, Take a Girl Like You (1960). In that novel Patrick worked hard to bed Jenny. He managed to get her drunk and have sex with her while she was passed out.

Jenny became pregnant and Patrick married her. However, she had a miscarriage and future children seem unlikely for her. Difficulties with Girls takes place seven years after the end of Take a Girl Like You, placing the time of the novel's events in 1968, just before the passing of the English law that legalized homosexuality.

Homosexuality is one of the more sensitive topics dealt with in Difficulties with Girls. For the lovers, Eric and Stevie, this new legitimacy takes some of the zest out of their relationship. No longer will it be daringly...