This memoir investigates the psychological and emotional consequences of an incestuous relationship between a father and his adult daughter. Kathryn Harrison utilizes her background as a novelist to reconstruct the events of her early twenties, providing a stark, introspective account of the power dynamics and familial complicity that allowed such a relationship to manifest. The narrative serves as a clinical examination of the intersection between primal attachment, abandonment, and the erosion of boundaries within a fractured family unit.

The work is regarded as a polarizing and intense piece of confessional literature that challenges conventional boundaries of the memoir genre. The subject matter suggests a dense, highly subjective text that demands significant emotional engagement from the reader while maintaining a detached, analytical prose style.