A Garden of Earthly Delights

A Garden Of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates is the first book of "The Wonderland Quartet." It follows Clara Walpole's ill-fated life and the four men who shaped it: Clara’s father, a bitter migrant farm worker; Lowry, who whisks the teenage Clara away and tempts her with love; Revere, a wealthy married business man who gives Clara stability; and Swan, Clara’s son who carries the physiological burden of Clara’s determination to escape her haphazard existence of violence and poverty.

For a recent Modern Library edition of the novel, Oates revised ¾ of the original published version of the novel.