by Sue Miller
First published 2002
Jo Becker has built what looks like an ideal existence in rural Massachusetts. She loves her husband, delights in her three daughters, and finds purpose in her veterinary work. Their home provides sanctuary from the world's complications. Yet something gnaws at her, a restlessness she cannot shake or explain. Then a face from decades past appears. An old roommate from her twenties walks back into Jo's world, carrying memories she has tried to bury. The encounter pulls her back to that earlier time, to events that ended in violence and changed everything. Jo becomes consumed by those distant months, unable to focus on her present life. The obsession grows stronger. Jo begins lying to her family about where she goes and what she thinks about. She moves closer to this man from her past, drawn by secrets that should remain hidden. Each deception creates distance between Jo and the people she loves most. The perfect life she built starts to crumble as she chooses the pull of memory over the safety of home.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: obsession, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Massachusetts
Period: Decades Past
352 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Ballantine Books