“Impressive . . . Bacon brings the acute, exquisite eye of a cartographer to this engrossing gazetteer about survival, heartache and the frayed edges of memory.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Lyrical and convincing . . . These stories ring true because of Bacon's skill at portraying the complex relations among husbands, wives, lovers and children.” —Gloria Rohman, The New York Times Book Review

“Bacon's prose gifts shine.” —Seattle Times

“Bacon's prose is lyrical and exact. Her descriptions of the ways in which love compels risk in each generation are fresh and moving, and her portraits of several complex women, each struggling to find her unique strength and identity while passing on a sense of life's possibilities, is often exhilarating. A resonant, impressive debut.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A neatly interwoven story of landscape, personal history, and survival . . . With well-drawn characters and a subtle palette for a plot, this is a very good book about loss and change.” —Library Journal

“Impressive . . . [Bacon's] prose has a pleasing simplicity that makes the book a quick and pleasurable read.” —Publishers Weekly

“I found myself pausing on every page to admire an apt metaphor or psychological insight. And these aren't just raisins stuck in a cake--they're seemlessly incorporated, flowing from paragraph to paragraph.” —Newsday

“A gorgeous debut . . . Bacon writes with an elegant calm.” —US Weekly