“Alice Adams writes with beautiful economy, an infallible sense of the telling detail—she can reveal more in a few sentences than most writers do in a bulgingly over-fed chapter.”  —San Francisco Chronicle
 
Once again, Alice Adams demonstrates her mastery of the family maze, her astonishing perception of the delicate and complex threads that bind us to one another.
 
Caroline Carter, “almost rich and almost old,” has five daughters from three marriages. As she assesses exactly what it means to be a mother to adult daughters, we follow them over the course of a year, in relation to their husbands and lovers. We see their deceptions, pleasures, triumphs, and setbacks. And we watch Caroline, as her own life changes irrevocably.