Traumatised by the mysterious departure of her father, young Zoë closes herself off from the outside world. Only later does she find the courage to claw back her life by trying to find him. On reaching puberty, Zoë runs away to find her father, Peter, who lost his job and then disappeared. Before leaving, Peter gave Zoë a cryptic message, which eventually leads her to follow his trail. In hot pursuit of Zoë is Choppy, her de facto stepfather and a former work colleague and friend of Peter’s. Ostensibly he sets off to save her, but his real motive is to make sure she doesn’t divulge his dark secret about a hit-and-run death. Armed with only a vague idea of where Peter might be living, Zoë is befriended by a street-smart runaway known as Little Diva, because of her propensity to break into song. Together the girls survive a string of adventures before Little Diva is forcibly taken back by her family. Zoë then turns the tables on Choppy and follows him to where Peter is staying. There she witnesses a fiery confrontation between the two men.

Dave and Nicholas, married for seven years now, are happily settled together – but as an Australian prime minister once observed, “Life wasn’t meant to be easy.” An unexpected threat to their beloved waterhole forces Dave to try asserting his unofficial custodianship of the Dreamtime site, and a visit from Nicholas’s nephew Robin doesn’t help as he brings his own surprises. And there’s always the question of Nicholas’s health hanging over their heads…

“A family’s world is irrevocably rocked when an old female lover from Mom’s past reappears” in this “sexy, audacious, politically charged” novel (Vanity Fair). Eager to escape her damaging past, Alison Rose is drawn to Zoe, a free-spirited artist who offers emotional stability and a love outside the norm. They spend a number of happy years together—until the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake deepens fissures in their relationship, and Alison leaves Zoe for a “normal” life with a man. But Alison’s son is born in the midst of these complications and shifting emotional bonds, and ultimately the three adults must strive to create a life together that will test the boundaries and balance the needs of all. A story spanning two decades, set against the social, political, and geological upheavals of the Bay Area, A Theory of Small Earthquakes “explores the vagaries of love and the true nature of family” (People). “[An] inventive, addictive novel [that] teaches us something new about love and sex, jealousy and loyalty, and also, and perhaps most importantly, motherhood.” —Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother and Red Hook Road “Call it "Two Women, One Man and a Baby." Maran’s take on the modern family is at once unexpected and totally relatable.” —MORE