In this short novel J.P. Donleavy writes of the tiny battle waged for survival of the spirit in bedrooms and hearts the world over. Samuel S, hero of lonely principles, holds out in his bereft lighthouse in Vienna. Abigail, an American college girl on the prowl in Europe, drawn by the beacon of this strange outpost, seeks in her own emancipation the seduction of Samuel S, the last of the world's solemn failures.