Marjorie Baldwin is the youngest of two daughters of a widowed archaeologist. She is an introverted, intelligent, but somewhat emotionally stunted child, who seems both younger and older than her age by turns. Marjorie accompanies her father on a summer archaeological dig, where she finds out that he is a very flawed man; at the least unethical, at the worst sadistic and cruel. She is left mostly in the care of her deceased mother's cousins (also archaeologists) while her father bullies others at the dig and coerces a female student into a sexual relationship. When Marjorie publicly exposes his relationship with the student, her father hits her (it is unclear if this is a unique or regular occurrence) and she wishes him dead.

Well, he is so angry he drives himself into cardiac arrest and promptly dies. Marjorie is now an orphan because her older sister is a selfish college student who will not take custody. So, Marjorie is sent to live with the cousins, runs away, and goes through a bizarre catharsis where she grapples with the guilt and her dead father's shade. Completely confusing, all characters except Marjorie are flat, but there are moments where you can really feel the soul-wrenching emotions of a lonely, precocious child.

I gave this book more stars than it deserves because 1) The author captured Marjorie's keenly-felt emotions so exactly in places and 2) The author wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Song of the Pearl. ( )