Summary

In Chapter 1, Frances, the Irish first person narrator and protagonist, tells her story in the past tense. The book opens with her recounting of the first time her best friend, Bobbi Connolly, and she met locally successful essayist and photographer, Melissa Conway. Melissa attended a poetry reading, where Bobbi and Frances' spoken word performance of Frances' poetry was well received. Afterward, Melissa invited the two college students to her house. Both of them eagerly accepted her offer.

In Chapter 2, Frances and Bobbi visited Melissa 's house, because Melissa wanted to take photos for a profile she would write about them. At the impressively well furnished house, with its prominently displayed Modigliani painting, Melissa called out to her husband that she had brought guests home, but he never appeared. The three women talked about their artistic aesthetics and their experiences of attending Catholic schools...