Deborah Joy Corey's long-awaited second novel explores a point of Maine so far east that it is almost an island and so desolate that the inhabitants must find something stronger than themselves to make them stay.

In the summer, tourists came to the pond to see the early-morning lilies in bloom. But in the winter, the pond belongs to the locals—especially Elizabeth's mother, whose skating is her genius, and the fishermen's sons, who play hockey there. It is at the pond while she is skating that the accident happens—an accident that will change them all. Dreams will dissipate; attachments will break apart; and family memories will be cast in shadow. In the end it will be abandonment that Elizabeth must endure. Loss of a tormented father, loss of a loving mother, and eventually the loss of a worldly and unforgettable lover.

Once again Deborah Joy Corey uses lyrical prose to reveal the complex inner working of ordinary lives, exploring how one is shaped by place and desire, and how loss marks and changes each one of us.