The novel deals in a quiet, understated way with the complicated relationships between two sisters, their mother, a daughter, some husbands and lovers, and with the attempts of various characters to make sense out of their aimless lives. I was intrigued but ultimately unsatisfied with this novel. First published in 1975, it is in some ways a period piece illustrating the aftermath of the sixties, with characters who remain fairly uninvolved in the lives of the people who could matter most to them.