Professor St. Peter grieves over the tragic death of his favorite student and has also begun to feel the effects of aging. In a display of social ascendency, St. Peter and his wife move into a new, larger house. The professor resents this change, as well as his daughter's marriage to the generous yet aloof Louis, and begins to spend his free time in the study of the abandoned house, thinking about years past and coming to terms with his new lifestyle.

Cather captures the personalities of her minor characters with deft precision, but the star of the novel is the titular professor, whose pensive recollections make up the majority of the novel. In fact, a diversion to another character's perspective in the middle of the novel was unwelcome and distracting by comparison. Readers looking for a fast-paced thriller will not be satisfied by The Professor's House, but I found its astute characterizations and mid-twentieth century setting very soothing.

"My dear," he sighed when the lights were turned on and they both looked older, "it's been a mistake, our having a family and writing histories and getting middle-aged. We should have been picturesquely shipwrecked together when we were young."