Boston Adventure, whose publication placed Jean Stafford in the front ranks of American novelists, is the haunting story of a girl in flight from her impoverished childhood. Sonia Marburg, growing up in a village outside Boston, deserted by her father and burdened with an insane mother, dreams that life can hold nothing better than the imagined splendor of Beacon Hill. When she becomes the protegee of a wealthy Bostonian, her dream is achieved, and with it comes the revelation of an empty, decadent society.