A powerful tale of grief and survival - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Night Watch 'This novel is cut like a diamond, with such sharp authenticity and bursts of light' ALICE MUNRO 'Extraordinary and luminous... the best novel I've read this year' JUNOT DIAZ 'Incandescent and utterly original' NEW YORK TIMES 'A glowing, powerful and immensely readable paean to the power of family' INDEPENDENT In 1950s West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Lark and her younger half-brother Termite, who is unable to walk or talk, are being raised by their Aunt Nonie. Their mother Lola is absent, Termite's father is still caught up in the chaos of the Korean War, and Lark doesn't even know who her father is. One night, a flood roars through town. Amid the debris and destruction, the truths of Lark's personal history begin to surface. And as the mysteries of the past come to light, the lives of Lark and Termite will be changed forever.