In this extraordinary novel, Stingo, an inexperienced twenty-two year old Southerner, takes us back to the summer of 1947 and a boarding house in a leafy Brooklyn suburb.There he meets Nathan, a fiery Jewish intellectual; and Sophie, a beautiful and fragile Polish Catholic.Stingo is drawn into the heart of their passionate and destructive relationship as witness, confidant and supplicant.Ultimately, he arrives at the dark core of Sophie's past: her memories of pre-war Poland, the concentration camp and - the essence of her terrible secret - her choice.