Silvia Shute has always done exactly what she wants. But after a fall from a balcony, her life has suddenly, shockingly stopped. Now she's unconscious in a hospital bed, at the mercy of the mad friends and crazy relatives who have come to visit. Her beleaguered ex-husband, her newly independent daughter, her West Indian nurse, her bohemian sister, her best friend, her enthusiastic housekeeper, and others all share a piece of their mind with the woman—the bad mother, the cherished sister, the selfish wife, the matchless lover, the egotist, the martyr—they think they know.And Silvia can't talk back. As she lies there, captive to the beloveds, the babblers, and the stark-raving bonkers who visit her bedside, the dark and terrible secret she has been hiding for years begins to emerge. Like it or not, the truth has come to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again, and again . . .