Meet Maggie Moran. Nearing fifty and married with two children, she and her husband drive from Baltimore to Deer Lick to attend the funeral of a friend one hot summer day. During the course of the journey, with its several unexpected detours into the lives of old friends and grown children, Maggie's eternal optimism and her inexhaustible passion for sorting out other people's lives and willing them to fall in love is severely tested... **ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 1 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE** 'One of my favourite authors ' Liane Moriarty 'She spins gold' Elizabeth Buchan 'Anne Tyler has no peer' Anita Shreve 'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks