Neukirchen, "haunted by her secret past as the child of a poor, mentally ill religious fanatic who tried to drown her in a riverside mudflat".

[1] Oates says that the novel started as a "dream vision" describing it as "I saw a woman sitting at a large table wearing inappropriate, very heavy makeup that had dried, like mud, and was darker than her skin.

"[4] In the Inside Higher Ed interview of Oates, Serena Golden explores how the novel both reflects and diverges from the challenges faced by women academics in high profile universities.

[1] Nance connects this stylistic approach to the work of James Joyce, where realistic "give[s] way to bizarre hallucinatory scenes.

"[1] Reviewer Deirdre Danahue for USA Today, described the novel as "generat[ing] equal parts foaming annoyance and breathless admiration".