The Twyborn Affair was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1979, but was removed at the request of the author, that it make way for the work of younger and more deserving writers.

He made an exception for the 1973 Nobel Prize in Literature, but sent a surrogate, Sidney Nolan, to Sweden to accept the award on his behalf.

An omniscient third person narration that centers on Joanie Golson is interspersed with diary entries written by Eudoxia Vatatzes.

The young woman, who goes by the name Eudoxia Vatatzes, recognizes Joanie as her mother's friend and is disturbed by her intrusion into their life.

Events conspire to bring them together, however, and the two couples end up having an awkward afternoon together at the cottage, after which Eudoxia and her elderly lover Angelos Vatatzes immediately flee the area.