From the author of the international bestseller Sweetbitter, a memoir of survival, starting over, and love in all its complicated guises.

Even after achieving her dream of selling her debut novel, Stephanie Danler feels adrift in New York. Struggling in the throes of a doomed relationship and haunted by her tumultuous childhood, something nameless compels her to return home to Southern California.

In a cottage in Laurel Canyon, as a new life begins to shape itself, she finally succumbs to memories of the past that have proved impossible to escape. A father who swung in and out of her life erratically, charming and mercurial and prone to addiction. A mother now disabled by years of alcoholism and an aneurysm, who cannot remember the abuse she inflicted. The looming, desolate mountains of Colorado, and a teenage freedom that nearly killed her. And above all, the painful love and forgiveness for those who failed her over and over again.

‘It's such a thrill to watch a writer open up her greediest thoughts, to slice open little pockets of her skin and root around underneath her flesh.’ New York Times Book Review

‘A compulsive, neck-breaking masterpiece.’ Lisa Taddeo

‘This is a story of triumph: the triumph of grit, talent, grace, and beauty over the dark pull of inner demons.’ Dani Shapiro