Diana stands before the mirror, preening with her best friend, Maureen. Suddenly, a classmate enters holding a gun, and seventeen-year-old Diana sees her life dance before her eyes. In a moment, the future she was just imagining is sealed by a horrific decision she is forced to make. The novel takes us through Diana"s uncertain steps into womanhood: her awkward, heated forays into sex; her fresh, fragile construction of an identity; and her equally tenuous steps as an adult. Kasischke has crafted a story of consciousness that encompasses the truth of a teenager"s world and the profound transformation of that world at midlife. Resonant and deeply stirring, this novel finds piercing beauty in the midst of a nightmare that echoes like a dirge beneath each new spring.