Luke Davies was born in Sydney in 1962. He has worked variously as a truck driver, teacher, and journalist. His collection of poetry Absolute Event Horizon was shortlisted for the 1995 Turnbull Fox Phillips poetry prize.

Isabelle Airly's father is dead by his own hand, after a term in prison for insurance fraud. Her boyfriend of four years has lost his life in a motorcycle accident. And inside, Isabelle is lost at sea, struggling to stay afloat, and wondering how a woman who has lost so much can begin to find herself again.
As Isabelle tries to pick up the pieces after the loss of the two men she loved most, she begins to uncover the truth about her father, his arrest, and his descent into madness-as well as the secrets her mother and uncle have kept hidden.
Poet and novelist Luke Davies, author of the award-winning international bestseller Candy, charts Isabelle's course with flowing, lyrical prose and profound emotional honesty. He takes us a journey not only across countries and continents, but through an interior life tempest-tossed by grief, as Isabelle attempts to understand the power of love, the pain of its loss, and the tragedies of her family's past.