'Happenstance' takes the form of two companion novels, each telling the story of the same five days in the lives of Jack and Brenda Bowman. In twenty years of marriage they have hardly ever been apart, then Brenda is invited, on the strength of her newly discovered talent as a quiltmaker, to spend a week at a craft convention. Jack, an unworldly, self-doubting historian, is left alone in their Chicago home to cope with their two awkward adolescent children.
In the space of one extraordinary, turbulent week, Jack's world falls apart. Disturbing events hasten on upon the other - a neighbour attempts suicide, a friend's marriage breaks down, Jack's lascivious secretary suddenly starts making bizarre sexual confessions and, last but opt least, Jack discovers to his horror that his major career project is jeopardised by an identical volume being written by his ex-lover.
Meanwhile, Brenda seems to be having the time of her life . . .
Making new friends, fending off the amorous advances of a handsome metallurgist, and coming to terms with her celebrity status as a prizewinning craftswoman, Brenda feels things are changing fast. As the week progresses all the gathering emotions which have unsettled her life of the last few years - the sudden and inexplicable attacks of sadness and anger, the feelings of insecurity - are brought into focus . . .
