A novel of absence and adolescence by the author of the award-winning "The town that drowned." It's 1977. Seventeen-year-old violet is left behind by her parents to manage their busy roadside antique business for the sum...A novel of absence and adolescence by the author of the award-winning "The town that drowned." It's 1977. Seventeen-year-old violet is left behind by her parents to manage their busy roadside antique business for the summer. Her restless older brother, bliss, has disappeared, leaving home without warning, and her parents are off searching for clues.