Leon Arden

One Fine Day Leon Arden

. Robinson Blake leads a cautious and unexceptional bachelor life in New York City. He has one minor vice (a secret earning for his boss's wife) and two problems: how to get up on time in the morning and how to end an affair with his eccentric secretary, Milly. Suddenly, Rob is caught up in a unique and terrifying calamity. A certain Monday becomes fixed in time and repeats itself over and over again, with Robinson Blake apparently the only person on earth who understands what's happening. Other people proceed through each re-run with no memory of what has passed before. Only Rob remembers. Rob's efforts to sort things right result in a series of comic and sometimes dangerous fiascoes. Then, surrendering to the erotic, forbidden possibilities of the situation, Rob sets about seducing the delectable Phillipa, his boss's wife. Every morning is a brand new day, and Phillipa must be wooed from scratch, though not always with the same degree of success. Finally Rob meets his nemesis, Mrs. Hawkmann, who is both the archetypical Jewish mother (Milly's) and a practicing, though not very competent, witch. Through Mrs. Hawkmann, who bears a striking resemblance to the late General de Gaulle, Rob is introduced to the Satanic forces he suspects may be responsible for this repeating day. But the final explanation of what is happening, as well as the solution to Rob's romantic entanglements, is as much of a surprise to the hero as it is to the reader.