Alice thinks she has it all. She is a happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, a  reluctant dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter.  Soon everything comes crashing down in a storm of tired babysitters, her father’s illness, marriage problems and work complications. Soon she realizes that maybe she doesn’t want to do the balancing act anymore. For the woman doing it all, Egan’s novel makes it clear that it’s okay to reevaluate life and expectations when times get tough.

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.