Lillie Crawford is dying. Her mind slowly succumbing to the ruthlessness of Alzheimer's, Lillie's remaining time on Earth is predicted to be a slow and difficult journey.

But if you ask Norah, her mother's death could not come soon enough. Haunted by memories of the years of abuse she suffered at Lillie's hand, Norah left her mother and started a new life as soon as she was old enough. And twenty-one years later, even after that new life falls apart, the last thing Norah wants to do is go home and take care of the person she hates most in the world.

But with no other choices and no place left to go, Norah finds herself back in the town she tried so desperately to leave behind, a town full of the people she forced herself to forget. And in that desolate house her mother beat her in, taking care of a woman who cannot stand the sight of her, Norah is forced to reckon with her past as old friends and old nightmares come to visit.

As the seasons go by, Norah begins to lose herself in the storm that is her crumbling life. But as the waves crash over her, Norah begins to see that maybe there is something underneath, brought to the surface by the eddies of shame and sadness. Maybe there will be something left standing when the storm has passed. Something that looks a little like hope. The only question is whether Norah will stick around to see it.

Ann Brooks

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