The first novel from the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk about Kevin is a compelling and provocative story of love and how we suffer for it.

Still unattached and childless at fifty-nine, world-renowned anthropologist Gray Kaiser is seemingly invincible--and untouchable. Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, she is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence.

When young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love--before an amazed Errol's eyes. As he follows their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence through miserable dependence.