"Life - that vile, that savage place, and the way it might damage a soul, and the way it does. Sally Fennell can"t grasp the size of it, the burden, can"t master it, try as she might, fret as she does, falter, until a speck of salvation distracts her. Frank Belton that hapless speck, made object of her monstrous need, the pushy brat well mired in madness, only how is Frank to know? Harry Fennell should know, doesn"t though, doesn"t care to, not with incontinent gambling to claim him, and the guile to clear his debts and gild his nest, and to hell with his victims. What happens when hope and fear and need collide? Can anyone survive? In this novel, Jean Hobbs examines the interplay of mismatched desires, the confusion they sow and the legacy they leave behind."