Diana and Maureen stand before a mirror, preening. Suddenly, they are interrupted by a classmate holding a gun. "Which one of you shall I kill?" he asks. One of the girls, beautiful, blond, worldly Diana, in the space of this novel, will see her life pass before her eyes--her high school years with Maureen, as well as her future life as a wife and mother at age forty--a future that will be paid for by the horrific decision she is asked to make in this moment. In prose infused with the dramatically feminine sensuality of spring, we vividly experience the insouciant pleaseure of Diana's youth--the orgies of talking and eating and fantasizing; the awkward heated forays into sex; the fresh, fragile, construction of an identity. Set against these are the more mundane tasks of Diana's adulthood--protecting her beloved daughter, planning her garden, holding on to her accomplished husband. As the novel progresses, we see how inevitable a life seems when looked at backwards. How much of life