Hers is a love story.
Intelligent, sweet Billie falls for darkly alluring Evan.
Their obsessive relationship takes them from London to Paris, Scotland and St Cloud.
The latter is a fictional ''South Pacific'' island accessed only through Costa Rica, although the tui, poi and ponga are familiar and Morgan's ocean birds resemble the albatross at Taiaroa Head.
It is ultimately the slowly played-out demise of a relationship, with twin babies, alcoholism and contemplation in the mix.
I enjoyed many parts, as well as Morgan's descriptive style and her clever use of words.
The work would benefit from a stronger edit, however, as the detail stemmed the narrative flow at times.
A quibble too is the American English text, a downside of where it's been published.
• Rosie Manins is chief reporter at Dunedin Television.
