I am sixteen when my mother steps out of her skin one frozen January afternoonpure self, atoms twinkling like microscopic diamond chips around her perhaps the chiming of a clock, or a few bright flute notes in the distanceand disappears. No one sees her leave, but she is gone. Laura Kasischkes first novel. Suspicious River. was hailed by the critics as extremely powerful (The Los Angeles Times), amazing (The Boston Globe), and a novel of depth, beauty, and insight (The Seattle Times). Now Kasischke follows up her auspicious debut with a spellbinding and erotic tale of marriage, secrets, and self-deception. When Katrina Connors mother walks out on her family one frigid January day, Kat is surprised but not shocked; the whole year she has been becoming sixteenfalling in love with the boy next door, shedding her baby fat, discovering sexher mother has slowly been withdrawing. As Kat and her father pick up the pieces of their daily life, she finds herself curiously unaffected by her mothers absence. But in dreams that become too real to ignore, shes haunted by her mothers cries for help. . . .
