While Heppenstall's earlier novels, particularly his debut, perhaps anticipated certain structural and thematic characteristics of the nouveau roman, The Connecting Door openly demonstrated the influence of the ecole du regard....A nameless man in his late thirties arrives in an unidentified city on the Rhine in 1948 on a journalistic assignment; the relationships he develops with two younger men, local officials, and several women prompt recriminations about his previous visits to the area, in 1931 and 1936. The narrative drew heavily on Heppenstall's own experiences, and reflected his literary influences, both through a range of allusions and its structural experimentation, which was foregrounded to an unprecedented level.[description taken from http: www.dalkeyarchive.com rayner-heppenstall]