Roger's Version

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Roger's Version is a 1986 novel by John Updike about Roger Lambert, a theology professor in his fifties whose rather complacent faith is challenged by Dale, an evangelical graduate student who believes he can prove with computer science that God exists. Roger is obsessed with the thought that Dale is having an affair with his wife, Ester. (In the novel it is left ambiguous whether this affair takes place.) Roger himself becomes involved with his niece Verna, a coarse but lively nineteen year old and single parent whose own mother (Roger's half sister) had a sexual hold over him when they were in their teens. There are frequent pop culture references, particularly to the pop singer Cyndi Lauper who is much admired by Verna and Roger's twelve year son Richie.^{[citation needed]}