This book is a mesmerising, lyrical novel that draws us in to a life that none of us would choose. Uncompromising in confronting our assumptions about choice and responsibility, it takes us deep into the psyche of a young woman unable to escape domestic abuse - first from her loving father, then from a partner who oscillates between protection and vicious physical abuse. We share Germaine's passivity and also her amazing strength; she grows in maturity but is in the end powerless to save her infant daughter. The undulating music of the flute that flows through this intelligent, subtle novel has the power to soothe as well as to disturb
