It is as if my entire early life were distilled in that one summer's afternoon and evening . . . I had arrived at the cross-roads feeling oppressed by the heat, but as soon as I turned into the avenue, I felt cold . . .'

It is twenty years since Antonia last visited her family home, and on her mother's deathbed she returns, determined to make her peace. Yet when the door is opened by her sister Charlotte, the favoured daughter, Antonia is shaken and her resolve weakened, for she is tormented by the thought of her painful childhood. Only the memory of Walter, her secret lover, releases Antonia from the destructive cycle of her past.

In this beautifully written novel, Elisabeth Russell Taylor explores the interrelation between victim and oppressor, within the family and the world outside.