This story pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old mental patient.

David Power and Clare O'Brien both grew up dreaming of escape from the battered seaside town of Castlebay, Ireland, but they might as well have had the ocean between them. David is the cherished son of a prosperous doctor, while Clare lives with her large family behind their faltering store, longing for a moment of quiet to study. When they both go to university in Dublin-he as a matter of course, she on a hard-won scholarship-their worlds collide....

"A spellbinding, deeply felt debut novel--haunting and poignant, soaring and gorgeously wrought--about motherhood, freedom, and our own power to shape our destinies. Oona grew up on the island of Inis: a wind-blasted rock off the coast of Ireland where the men went out on fishing boats and the women tended sheep; where the only book was the Bible; and where girls stayed at home until they became mothers themselves. Even as a child, Oona knew she wanted...