What has become of Marguerite Fulmer? On an otherwise average day in
Upstate New York, the young woman left her family home, never to return.
No note was left, no explanation; just a messy bedroom and her sister
Gigi, driven to dig through the meager clues and discover the truth
behind her disappearance.
As the investigation unfolds, every subtle bit of evidence becomes a
potential clue. The silk Dior slip dress, left in a heap on the floor;
the impression of Ferragamo boots outside in the dirt, a trail of
footsteps that abruptly ends before it leaves the yard. And as Gigi
trails the detectives, she finds previously unknown troubles in the life
of her perfect, gorgeous, much-loved sister?troubles that at times seem
to reflect her own.
Bit by bit, like ripping the petals off a flower blossom, a dark truth
is revealed. And subtly, but with the unbearable suspense at which Joyce
Carol Oates excels, clues mount and bring to light the fate of the
missing beauty.