Helpful Score: 1
Bea Nightingale, the main character in this multi-layered novel, lives a quiet life teaching English literature to an obstreperous group of young men until her little-known niece arrives from California. What follows are journeys back and forth to Paris at the behest of Bea's odious brother to learn more about her missing nephew. Bea's relatives and her long-since divorced husband are self-absorbed and oblivious to Bea's good intentions. There is a pervasive sadness to this book of lives wasted.
