Bestselling author Torey Hayden's new novel poignantly tells of a daughter's attempt to grow up in the shadow of her mother's haunted past. Warm melancholy & evocatively rendered this book captures the essence of a family touched by sadness. A haunting tale of a family who can't escape the consequences of their mother's tormented childhood. Hayden a master storyteller again turns her talent to fiction in this novel that combines a psychological thriller with a nuanced family drama. Lesley's Hungarian mother Mara -- charming childlike lovable -- is traumatized by her adolescent Holocaust experiences. Though her American husband & daughters try to live a normal life Mara holds them thrall to her moods & quirks. Lesley struggles to understand but dealing with Mara is a severe strain which sets her apart from her peers. But when Mara's psychosis results in tragedy Lesley goes to Wales in search of her mother's remembered joy.