New York, 1993. In their loft in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, Alice and her husband Oliver are raising an infant daughter, delighting in new parenthood. Their life together feels so full of promise—which makes Alice's sudden diagnosis especially staggering; in the span of a single day, their focus narrows to the basic question of her survival. In Charles Bock's follow-up to his Sue Kaufman Prize winner Beautiful Children, Alice and Oliver brace themselves for the worst while facing the new realities of their marriage, their strengths as partners and flaws as people, and what it means to truly care for another person.

"Bock doesn't pussyfoot. The story—inspired by his own experience when his young wife was diagnosed with leukemia … holds a penetrating mirror to our own fears in a way that fascinates even as it frightens."—Booklist (starred review)