'A gripping tale of a woman wrestling with the past while boldly making her own future.
Haunting and powerful' Madeline Miller author of Circe An exhilarating blazing-hot novel
about a woman caught between her desires and her life At a lavish party in the hills outside of
San Francisco Jin Han meets Lidija Jung and nothing will ever be the same for either woman. A
brilliant young photographer Jin is at a crossroads in her work in her marriage to her
college love Phillip and in who she is and who she wants to be. Lidija is an alluring injured
world-class ballerina on hiatus from her ballet company under mysterious circumstances. Drawn
to each other by their intense artistic drives the two women talk all night. Cracked open Jin
finds herself telling Lidija about an old familial curse breaking a lifelong promise. She's
been told that if she doesn't keep the curse a secret she risks losing everything death and
ruin could lie ahead. As Jin and Lidija become more entangled they realize they share more
than the ferocity of their ambition and begin to explore hidden desires. Something is ignited
in Jin: her art her body and her sense of self irrevocably changed. But can she avoid the
specter of the curse? Urgent bold and deeply moving this novel asks: how brightly can you
burn before you light your life on fire? 'A rare jewel of a book at once forceful and
unrepentant delicate and shimmering' C Pam Zhang author of Land of Milk and Honey
