New York: Avon, (1998.). Set in 1972, this is the story of Ellen, who finds herself living with her in-laws, narrrow-minded, rigid, eccentric, former farmers, Catholics who live in a world 'as rigid, as precise as a church.' A quiet, intense novel, often poetic in its language - Amy Tan called the author ".a powerful storyteller with lyrical gifts and a wry, observant eye." 240 pp. ISBN: 0-670852538.