This is longlisted for the 2014 Dylan Thomas Prize. It is a fiercely beautiful n
ovel about friendship and the ties that bind us. Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong
friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann.
While
Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brot
hers she loves but can't quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by
her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life.
Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and th
en fall apart further - and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, ki
nd, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this w
oman is and what that question means about them both.
A staggeringly arrestin
g, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friend
ship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we
owe our children, and who we are without our friends.
