The Quick & the Dead

Three motherless girls - Alice, intent on saving the earth from humanity's abuse; Corvus, who finds solace in caring for the dying; and Annabel, for whom fashion and cosmetics are armor against her fears - move through Arizona's desert landscape and encounter its misfit inhabitants. Annabel's father is literally haunted by the very vocal ghost of his wife. A pianist prefers dark thoughts to the sprightly songs he plays at rich men's parties. A tycoon with a fondness for taxidermy befriends a child who reviles his passion. Profoundly imaginative, Joy Williams has produced a masterpiece of contemporary American life that lingers long in the mind.