A wonderful novel exploring the fragile nature of a mother - daughter relationship, its hopes and expectations and its guilts and regrets.

Beth flew the coop as soon as she could, making a life for herself and her daughter in London. James, her dutiful brother, stayed in Dublin, raising a family not far from their mother, Alice. Now Alice is dying and Beth has returned to the shabby grandeur of her childhood home to keep vigil by her bedside. Unable to speak, the only way Alice feels she can bridge the gap of understanding between her and Beth is to write to her and seek reconciliation. Set during the last days of Alice's life, this is also an extraordinary preceptive novel about childhood and growing old.