A woman in her thirties, Mary Dunne, struggles to reconcile her fractured identity as the weight of her past marriages and a haunting, unresolved death threatens to consume her present. Mary navigates the disorienting landscape of her own memory, attempting to distinguish her authentic self from the various names and roles she has adopted through three marriages. She is besieged by the intrusive recollection of her second husband, Hat Bell, whose alcoholism and eventual death remain a source of profound guilt. The narrative framework utilizes a stream-of-consciousness style to mirror Mary's internal instability as she confronts the ghosts of her past in a desperate attempt to reclaim her autonomy.

Critics have long lauded this work for its remarkable depth and the author's ability to inhabit the consciousness of his female protagonist. The Sunday Times described the novel as an extraordinary piece of feminine characterization, highlighting the precision with which the internal struggle is rendered. The Times Literary Supplement noted the author's rare capacity to write about women with profound sympathy and understanding. Observers and reviewers have consistently pointed to the book's complexity and its status as a significant achievement in the author's body of work. The consensus remains that the novel serves as a poignant and technically adept examination of the human psyche under duress.