Ilyria is a sort of Eden for writers and artists, where all practical problems can be forgotten. It is the perfect place for Janet Belle Smith to recharge her creative batteries amomg friends and kindred spirits. This year's eagerly anticipated trip is not like the other's but Janet isn't sure why. A twenty-year-old, conventioanlly pretty college girl, Anna May, is having a devastating effect on the other guests. Gerry and Nick are escaping from their houses full of children, Ricky from his interfering mother, Charlie from his ex-wife whose alimony he cannot pay. Why are they all falling under her spell and what effect will it have on Janet?

Alison Lurie divides her time between London, Key West, and Ithaca, New York, where she is Frederic J. Whiton Professor of Academic Literarue at Cornell University. Her books have an enthusiastic following in Britain, from Love and Friendship through Foreign Affairs (Pulitzer Prize 1985), The Truth About Lorin Jones (Prix Femina Etranger 1989) and, most recently, her collection of short stories, Women and Ghosts (1994). She is also the author of The Language of Clothes and a collection of essays on children's literature, Don't Tell the Grownups.