But disquiet soon interrupts this secluded life. First, the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before are returned to the monastery, resurfacing years of grief and pain.

And then, an unexpected and troubling visitor plunges the narrator further into her past... ? Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award? Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year? Shortlisted for the ABIA Award for Literary Fiction? Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award