Lucy has always had a volatile marriage, one marked by frequent splits and reconciliations. So when she gathers up her two young children, May and Eden, and walks out on her husband Simon, no one is very surprised - until she leaves London for an ashram in California.

At first May is bewildered by this sudden removal, by the strange rituals of the ashram, and by the obeisance paid to the guru, Parvati, by her disciples. But her doubts are gradually broken down by the bond she forms with another teenage girl, the sensual and manipulative Sati. When Sati's mother gives birth to another daughter and the baby is handed over to Parvati, May watches as Lucy's faith is shaken and human instinct and decency can no longer be suppressed.

Craze's portrait of the ashram is informed by a wonderfully sly humour, and her evocation of the bewilderments of being a child of warring parents is as acute as it was in By the Shore.