Not long ago, Kate Brady and I were sipping a few gloomy gin fizzes in London, lamenting that nothing would ever change, that we would die as we lived now – adequately fed, married, unfulfilled. This is how Baba's biting account of the growing disillusionment between the two friends begins. Disappointed by Eugene, Kate embarks on a completely unmotivated affair with another man. When her husband finds out, he proves to be ruthless and self-righteous, and nothing is as it was. Meanwhile, the equally married Baba has her own problems. O'Brien artfully contrasts Baba's relentless, hearty language with Kate's increasingly bitter, grieving voice, dramatically illustrating the immense chasm between dreams and reality that the two navigate.