Summary

Marlene Winokaur and Hugh Rafferty meet at a wedding in the story “Unravished Bride.” They happen to run into one another five days later outside the Boston Public Library. They began having lunch together every Thursday for nearly a year. Hugh finally asked Marlene to go to a hotel with him. When they arrived at the hotel, however, Hugh could not go through with the affair.

Analysis

This short story “Unravished Bride” addresses infidelity, a theme common in Pearlman’s short stories. In this story Marlene and Hugh met at a wedding. They started having lunch together every week. Marlene didn't believe that their actions actually constituted cheating. Hugh finally asked her to meet him at a hotel. He told her when he arrived that he couldn’t go through with it. He told her they were different from the other people who...