From its first sentence - a startling confession from one stranger to another - this novel unfolds like a haunting cinematic dream. Against the backdrop of the shifting American countryside, each scene peels away layer after layer to bare its characters' secrets until all is at last revealed.Or is it?A man and a woman meet on a train bound for Los Angeles. Each is brimming with secrets; each is fleeing a life in ruins. No names are exchanged; the words that pass between them are tender, angry, passionate, and nakedly emotional.In the growing intimacy, a tale begins to unfold...of a broken child and a shattered family...of desire and unimaginable pain. It is her story, the searing testimony of a woman who has been victim, fighter, lover, and healer.As the astonishing details of this woman's life slip forth, the man's psyche becomes inextricably bound up with hers. Together, they journey deeper into an interior landscape from which there is no easy return. And neither will walk away unchanged. Read Less