Plot summary

The life of Virgil Starkwell, still a young man, is presented, that presentation partly through interviews with family and acquaintances. He has been in and out of prison since he was in his mid-twenties, primarily for armed robberies. His down and out life was largely predetermined having grown up in the slums of New York City, and never having fit in anywhere in society, being shunned if not bullied. His life of crime began as a means of survival since he was inept at everything else, which is not to say that he is also inept as a robber, hence the reason he has been caught so easily time after time. His life has the potential to change when he meets and falls in love with Louise, a laundress. Louise is also somewhat of an outsider in society, she having grown up in a dysfunctional household with a strict military father and alcoholic mother. As Virgil and Louise try to eke out a life together, the fact of Louise in his life will either make Virgil turn to a life of the straight and narrow, or conversely do anything required to support her.—Huggo