Like rain that splits boulders, love was the force that drove them apart. Night Work is the story of the intense but hopeless relationship between Red, an emotionally troubled single mother, and Dan, a comfortably married man. Drawn inescapably into their folly (which nevertheless remains platonic), they have little in common except a love of classical music, a Southern upbringing, and a desperate need for each other. Their love, which is real though doomed, is counterpointed against the falsities of the Reagan-era world in which they work and move. 

The setting is a decaying Massachusetts city with an elite liberal arts college in its suburbs. A dying downtown, suburban malls, a cultural veneer and New England flintiness uneasily coexist. In the end, Dan cannot forget Red, nor she him, even after they have given each other up. 

Andrew Pincus has published three books on classical music and a previous novel. He has written for The New York Times, the Boston Globe and numerous other publications, and twice won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music criticism. He lives in Lenox, Massachusetts.