Close to retirement, Cooper is an eccentric teacher of English in a small country town. Apprehensive and unadventurous, he yet carries with him a powerful passion: a love of words and a devotion to the art of poetry. In the course of his teaching Cooper communicates this passion to one of his students. They begin to meet secretly and Cooper cultivates her obvious talent: the gift for writing that he yearns for but is certain that he does not possess. Their friendship develops and a scandal ferments in the small world of the country town. Cooper and his student are forced to act: they must choose between life-denying conformity and the dangers of a truthful existence. Available for the first time in over fifteen years, Journal of a Sad Hermaphrodite is Michael de Larrabeiti's masterpiece.