An award-winning writer s debut novel about a young woman s return to her Southern roots and to the secrets of who she is. Avie Goss is a change baby-a baby born late in her mother s life， almost a generation after the births of her two siblings. When her mother nearly dies in a house fire， Avie returns home to the South she abandoned after college. There， she tends to her ailing mother and begins to unravel the story of who she is-and to uncover a different picture of a way of life that has all but vanished. Slowly， as she makes sense of her family s legacy， she begins to build a new life for herself in a landscape with which she must come to terms. June Spence s astonishing talents as a literary stylist， which were so highly praised on the publication of her story collection， Missing Women and Others， are stunningly exhibited in this impressive debut novel. As Larry Brown wrote about her stories， "In her beautiful sentences June Spence writes with knowledge and intelligence， with wit and insight， and a generous helping of compassion."