Since the publication of her first novel, The Good Mother (1986), Sue Miller has been highly acclaimed for her authentic depictions of conflicts arising from changing roles and expectations in middle-class American families. Like Miller herself, the female protagonists of her three novels have all been divorced, and all either have children or, in one instance, are about to give birth. Critics often praise Miller's exceptional ability to portray children, most of whom are afflicted in some way by the conflicts of their parents -- conflicts that sometimes lead to divorce and remarriage. She is also noted for her ability to probe the complex psychological and moral conflicts that arise not only between husbands and wives but also between different generations of a family.

In a 1986 interview Miller told Rosemary Herbert that she attributes this moral questioning, which she calls "the homiletic turn" in her fiction, to the fact...