Life has gotten no easier for Maureen O'Donnell since the events in Exile. Already deeply in debt and struggling with alchoholism, she now faces her most formidable challenges yet: testifying against her boyfriend's murderer and the return of her abusive father to Glasgow. As family matters deteriorate and violence hovers over the familiar neighborhoods of Garnethill, the world becomes a darker, more dangerous and even deadly place for Maureen.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year