[1] The work was first published on September 2, 2003 through Random House and was reprinted in paperback in 2008 through Simon & Schuster.

The book follows Isabelle, a freelance photographer first introduced in Hecht's 1997 short story collection Do the Windows Open?.

Her only real outlet is her friendship with a young man she met years ago during a photoshoot with his father, a wealthy and powerful surgeon.

[3][4] Richard Eder of the New York Times praised the work, comparing Hecht's writing to that of J. D. Salinger and stating that it had "beautifully contoured reflections".

[5] The Chicago Times also wrote a favorable review, writing that it was "a corrosive sendup of the way we live now, spun out by a modern loner who happens to be every bit as distressing as the benighted, T-shirt-wearing masses she rails against.