In this follow-up to Still Life, Julia has finally made the decision to live in the heart of the North Carolina mountains with her son Blake and new love Gabriel. It is there she places the finishing touches upon a fictional, yet disturbingly personal, account of her time in London. Yet as the struggle to write of her past adds to an already difficult transition, she and Gabriel-a painter-find themselves separated by a mutual need to create. Their subsequent retreat into a life fabricated solely on paper and canvas brings isolated comfort and severe disconnect from each other and the world beyond. Will the distance prove too great with every stroke of the pen and brush? Or can the very art that divides them also help to heal?
