New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. dj. Hardcover first edition - Her second novel - "about original sin (complete with serpent) and redemption, through three generations of an American family. Large, fascinating, at once realistic and magical, the novel opens as the central figure, twenty-six-year-old Zoe Carver, arrives in a Southwestern city to spend Christmas with her brother, who conducts biochemical research with snake venom." 545 pp. ISBN: 0-679-404287.