Against the stark and unyielding beauty of the Australian farmlands, Elizabeth Jolley paints a rich portrait of an eccentric, affectionate relationship between two women. Hester Harper, a lonely spinster caring for her ailing father, takes on Katherine, a young orphan, as a companion. Together, the women build a life replete with the satisfaction of daily chores well done and small pleasure thoroughly enjoyed. Life is nearly perfect--despite the subtle encroachments of their rural community--until late one night, when a dark stranger invades their privacy in a most horrifying way and shatters their world ...

Elizabeth Jolley sets forth this stunning tale of intrigue and moral complexities with deft touches of black humor and splashes of irony applied with a flick of the wrist--the hallmarks of this talented writer.