Rachel Simon is a journalist and teacher. In a moment of despair with her orderly life, she reaches back out to her sister Beth—eleven months younger, a woman with intellectual disability. Beth has a forceful personality and a vital need to connect with others. She spends her days riding the buses in her town, knows all the drivers and routes, recognizes many of the regular passengers. Rachel, both unsettled and captivated, gradually discovers the peculiar web of relationships her sister has woven with these people—and the authentic, humane atmosphere Beth creates around her. Rachel finds herself reconsidering her own life. By contrast, she sees its limits. When she returns home to her job, she feels that "the ice around my heart has melted." She is finally capable of truer connections, and therefore able to live a life that is harder, yes, but rich and meaningful.
by Cristina Tersigni, 2004