I absolutely did not expect the impact this book had on my life. I think what surprised me about it was that it really does not look like my kind of book; the writing is somewhat flowery. It looks like it's aimed at women, it's character driven... It's just not my kind of thing. Then within the first few pages there's a description of a sex act by a child on an adult that absolutely floored me and I thought I have absolutely mis-judged this book. Maybe it's partly due to the weird emotional time I'm having at the moment but the book grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I ached for the main female character, for her choice. There's a death that snuck up on me and absolutely slapped me round the face. The whole thing was just so good. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.