The first book in the Shugrinsky family saga series, , focused on Elizabeth breaking free from her dysfunctional family; now learn more about her mother's tragic story in . Elizabeth would be the first to tell you that Naomi is not an ideal mother: she is manipulative and controlling, and she appears to be unraveling fast. But Naomi has survived tragedy before, and now she's struggling to do so again. When her suicide attempt doesn't extract her from her painful marriage like she'd planned, Naomi finally opts to divorce Jesse. But with her history, she worries how she will be able to keep custody of Elizabeth and Mary. And even beyond the legal matters, how can she maintain a relationship with her daughters when everything she does seems to twist into something bad? Naomi's story travels back and forth from the 1940s through the 1970s, building the taut and bitter web that makes up her life. All it takes is for one string to snap before her world collapses around her, and the fallout won't just affect her... is filled with tragedy and suspense, yet it leaves a small ray of hope for the Shugrinsky family by the end.