A beautifully written account of the year after the author's husband died, mere days after their only daughter was hospitalised with a critical illness. It's a dreamy, searching account of how to encompass a new life when the very centre of it has shifted into hollowness. That being said, well-written as it is, this is a very static book. It can hardly help being so - Didion is hit with a series of traumatic events and is wandering round in a sort of fog for the majority, and one can't blame her. She's stuck in grief and while it's an interesting and valid approach for a book, if you're looking for something with more of a sense of emotional movement this probably isn't for you. I enjoyed it, though, which in itself is a kind of depressing thought: that this likeable read is only around for me to read because another woman got her life ripped apart.