Freudenberger's novel unfolds into that rare thing, a work of poetics itself, a meditation in art. The fact that she does it with such wit and compassion, such generosity of mind and heart, is miraculous.

From the award-winning author of Lucky Girls comes an intricately woven novel about secrets, love, art, identity and the shining chaos of everyday American life.

Yuan Zhao, a celebrated Chinese performance artist and political dissident, has accepted a one year's artist's residency in Los Angeles. He is to be a Visiting Scholar at the St Anselm's School for Girls, teaching advanced art, and hosted by one of the school's most devoted families: the wealthy if dysfunctional Traverses. The I-raverses are too preoccupied with their own problems to pay their foreign guest much attention, and the dissident is delighted to be left alone - his past links with radical movements give him good reason to avoid careful scrutiny. The trouble starts when he and his American hosts begin to view one another with clearer eyes.