ABSTRACT
Early partners can be pretty alarming to the young lovers’ parents, as we all know. Even though our biological lives may be sustained, if this, our first couple, fails, or partly fails, at an emotional, trust, or communication level, traces may be left for another, later marriage to cope with. In adulthood, partner choice always contains in some form the search for the blissful aspects of early infancy. Quentin, a famous scientist on the brink of a knighthood, gave up his career to take care of Queenie, his alcoholic wife. Dad has a critical role in supporting the new mother’s efforts to do good mothering. Henry’s own father had been very timid, so he had been unconsciously attracted to the hidden fury behind Hattie’s screen. We all know grown-ups who, as children, never properly “cut the cord”, “left the breast”, or are “still tied to apron strings”.
