On the night of a father's death, two women remember. Esther, the wife denied, and Sara, her corrupted daughter, look back at the father's overwhelming cruelty and ahead to their freedom from him. Esther is paralyzed by her complicity in her daughter's suffering. Sara has been traumatized into an escapist dream world. Finally liberated from his terrible physical and emotional abuse, they must decide whether they will accept new possibilities or conform to old values. The darkness, no matter how black, is not complete: "I don't hate being a woman, " Sara tells herself. "I don't." Beautifully written and remarkably powerful,