Summary

"It is a strangely hot September in a genteel Dublin suburb, and Pen O'Grady has lost her lover - if she ever really had her to lose. Back in convent school in the late seventies, Pen fell for tall, pale, indecipherable Cara, whose enthralling oddities included mood swings and agoraphobia. Cara was engaged in unrequited love for other people as long as Pen knew her, but when nothing else could comfort Cara under the stress of exams, sex did, and the two became "sort of girlfriends." The relationship survived infidelities and boredoms of all sorts over the years until, while returning from one of her many excursions in search of freedom, Cara died in a car accident." "Pen's narration covers the week of the funeral and fourteen years of baffling memories. As the novel opens, Cara's older sister, Kate, on whom Pen once had a schoolgirl crush, is flying home from America - where she emigrated as a teen - for the funeral. Kate has been gone for fourteen years, but gradually she and Pen overcome their mutual suspicion and share their interlocking perceptions of family, home, and the fragments of Cara they have left."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved