Mary Anne Kalonas Slack returns with this, her second novel featuring mother daughter relationships. She is also the author of The Sacrificial Daughter (White River Press, 2024), a novel that explores the unshakable ties between a mother and her daughter, as the daughter struggles to escape the firm expectations her mother has burdened her with-and has no intention of letting go. Slack's short stories have been published in Adelaide Literary Magazine, as well as in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 Quabbin Quills Anthologies. A native of Massachusetts, she grew up in a family of sisters.