[2] Miller was also influenced by the murder trial of O. J. Simpson and the investigation of a 15-year-old boy in Boston, charged with allegedly killing one of his friends' mothers.

'"[3] CBS adapted the novel into a TV movie in 2004, starring Kirstie Alley as Jo, Bill Smitrovich as Daniel, and Peter Horton as Eli.

Several decades ago, in 1968, a young Jo had fled her upcoming marriage, assumed the false name of Felicia Stead, and moved into a group house in Cambridge living among bohemians.

[5] The novel was praised in The New York Times, which wrote: "The story is at once so well made and vividly imagined that one might call it an exercise in spontaneous craftsmanship.

"[5] The Los Angeles Times also praised the review, calling Miller "so good at rendering the everyday world into which crisis breaks.