last time

Last time you see someone and you don't
know it will be the last time. And all that
you know now, if only you'd known then.
But you didn't know, and now it's too late.
And you tell yourself How could I have
known, I could not have known.

You tell yourself.

This is my story of missing my mother. One
day, in a way unique to you, it will be your
story, too.

From Joyce Carol Oates comes this candid, intimate, engaging, and personal new novel.

Nikki Eaton, single, thirty-one, sexually liberated, and economically self-supporting, has never particularly thought of herself as a daughter. Yet, following the unexpected loss of her mother, she undergoes a remarkable transformation during a tumultuous year that brings stunning horror, sorrow, illumination, wisdom, and even -- from an unexpected source -- a nurturing love.