By the widely praised author of Jack and The Safety of Objects, an enthralling and ultimately terrifying new novel. An aspiring young filmmaker marked by her habit of relentless achievement and a sensible middle-aged counselor of troubled souls develop a friendship that allows each to escape her prescribed roles.
No relationship is more charged than that between a psychotherapist and her patient--unless it is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. This disturbing literary thriller explores what happens when the line between those relationships blurs.

Jody Goodman enters psychotherapy with questions of career and love on her mind. But Claire Roth, her therapist, keeps changing the focus of their sessions to Jody's parentage--Jody was adopted; Claire gave up a baby for adoption who would now be exactly Jody's age. As the two women become increasingly involved, speculation turns into certainty, fantasy into fixation. Until suddenly it is no longer clear just which of them needs the other more--or with more terrifying consequences.