Astonishing splashes of colour

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2003, this absorbing, beautifully written, and perceptive novel perfectly captures the complexity of memory and the dynamics of family life When an innocent trip to see the play "Peter Pan" gives Kitty's four brothers an excuse to deny her access to her much-loved nieces, she finds herself in a skewed, vividly colored world where children become emblems of hope, longing, and grief. Still reeling from the loss of her own child that never was, Kitty is suddenly made shockingly aware of the real reason for her pervasive sense of non-existence. Suddenly, her family's oddness, the secrets of her mother's life and death, and the disappearance of her sister come into a startling new focus--one that leaves Kitty struggling to find own identity.