The story of one woman's life. Ellie's father is killed in a rail accident when she is two years old. She grows up in a hostel, her mother working hard as matron to put her through a private school. Ellie is a strong-willed and opinionated character. The book follows her life from her Lower Hutt childhood, sheep-shearing gang, OE, apple picking in Nelson, living in a commune, various jobs as a librarian and raising her son as a single mother throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Characters play their part in the novel, then disappear only to emerge later in Ellie's life. In her late 30s she finally becomes a painter, her 'shadow man' a break-through in her work. Ellie is an admirable character, walking away from relationships and things that just don't work for her anymore. A captivating read. I enjoyed such lines as; 'Lawns mown so close they looked in pain. Blinds that made the windows seem like pages in a notebook, unwritten on, and the houses empty'. ( )