"For young Jorie, Los Angeles in the 1950s is a quiet place of hot sun and deep green grass. But from the time she is four, it is also a place where she and her brothers are left mostly on their own, without rules or adult order. Their mother has died and their enigmatic father, a physician starting a practice, is rarely around."--BOOK JACKET.

"Jorie is the central force holding this insular household together, more comfortable being at home than joining in the games and parties of other children. She feels possessive of her father, but also becomes increasingly aware that he has a secret life, part of a more threatening world that is beginning to intrude.

Earrings, a scented scarf, a lipstick are signs of her father's constant philandering, and gruff nighttime voices and cigar smoke downstairs signal the arrival of gangsters who have become his friends. Then Jorie begins a secret life of her own."--BOOK JACKET.