Portrait of my father

To most people who knew him, G. Harold Powell was a brilliant scientist, a pomologist who helped shape the citrus industry of Southern California as general manager of the Sunkist Cooperative. But to his immediate family, and particularly to his son Laurie, Powell was a mystery. He died when Laurie was still a youngster, leaving behind a number of unsolved puzzles. Not until fifty years after the man's death did Lawrence Clark Powell finally begin to know his father. By now, young Powell was a distinguished man of letters in his own right. While staying in Paris, he came upon some letters and other documents revealing the truth about the elder Powell's private life—and private affairs. G. Harold Powell, it appears, had also spent time in Paris. Thus, the novelization begins.