Lionel Shriver

Shep Knacker, having saved for years to retire to a Tanzanian island where he could live on his nest egg for the rest of his life, is stunned when his wife Glynis announces she has a rare form of cancer and needs his insurance, and while the mounting bills cut deeply into his savings, he is buoyed by rants against the health care system by his friend Jackson who is caring for a sick child.

Eva Khatchadourian has been living a life plagued by guilt and denial since her son opened fire and killed seven of his classmates two years earlier, and as she tries to come to terms with her son's actions, she examines the parenting choices she made when raising him and wonders where she went wrong.