Excellent writer, and a topic (mixed family dynamics) that isn't often written about. Vida -- the English teacher -- is an unhappy mother of one teenage boy, Peter. Father is a mystery (no spoiler here) that is resolved in a satisfying manner that helps "explain" her personality. Her new husband Peter is a mystery in another way. He marries Vida after the death of his perfect wife Mary without knowing Vida for long. The marriage disintegrates immediately, yet he persists in asserting his love. (C'mon, Peter, you hardly knew her.) Dynamics with Peter and his stepbrothers and stepsister excellent. Vida's descent excellent. However . . . for me the ending just didn't fit the characters. (One setting quibble . . . Vida at the end is in Northern California, one hour from Berkeley by bus, so within 30 miles or so. Somehow, they are also in a city with streets lined with palms trees that lead to the beach. Northern California? Not Half Moon Bay or Pacifica. Not Stinson Beach. Not anywhere in the Bay Area that I know of, and I was raised there. I'm surprised the editor didn't catch this error. Switch the school to UCLA and it all makes sense.)
(One setting quibble . . . Vida at the end is in Northern California, one hour from Berkeley by bus, so within 30 miles or so. Somehow, they are also in a city with streets lined with palms trees that lead to the beach. Northern California? Not Half Moon Bay or Pacifica. Not Stinson Beach. Not anywhere in the Bay Area that I know of, and I was raised there. I'm surprised the editor didn't catch this error. Switch the school to UCLA and it all makes sense.)