Do we become who we are because of our parents, or in spite of them? Fern’s mother is a social climber and a former ballet dancer who lives a plush life in a London townhouse. Fern’s father only climbs if there’s a bottle at the top, has an IQ of 133 and lives hand-to-mouth in Californian motels. Aged fourteen, Fern has spent equal time with each of her parents. That is, until an unexpected visitor triggers a life-changing dilemma: whether she should get on a plane to London to be with her mother, or stay in California with her father. Here, Fern’s narrative splices in two. Two possible lives, one person. Each Fern will grow in wildly different, but eerily similar directions. Both must determine who they want to be and how they deal with a thorny problem which threatens to undo them all: a murder.
