Synopses & Reviews
A story of love, lust, and pest control set against the changing seasons of San Francisco. When Dawn leaves her boyfriend of five years charismatic, larger-than-life David she leaves behind their cozy, artsy home, their rose garden, and their life of couplehood. With her nine-year-old daughter, Jewel, in tow, she hopes to make a new life; one in which she doesn?t feel overshadowed by David's personality and success as a painter. A life in which she works as an exterminator by day and at night is left to work on her portfolio of insect illustrations. Dawn and Jewel rent a home with a small apartment downstairs, and set out to find a tenant. They soon hear from Harlan, a frustrated documentary filmmaker whose world is quietly crashing down on him too. Over the course of a year climbing up and downstairs to each other's apartments, playing cards, drinking hot chocolate in the summer fog and beer in the winter warmth, and slowly transforming their backyard garden in a sanctuary Dawn, Jewel, and Harlan's lives become effortlessly interwoven. In her first novel since the acclaimed memoir, The Toaster Broke, So We're Getting Married, Pamela Holm brings us a poignant and often very funny story about monogamy, motherhood, and the wonders of gardening.