Egan's latest offering takes place in America during the Depression. Twelve-year-old Anna Kerrigan accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who she perceives to be important. Anna can't help but notice the lavish house equipped with servants, toys for the children, and the pact between Styles and her father.
Years later the country is at war, Anna's father has disappeared, and she has to support her mother and disabled sister with work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Because of the war, women are allowed to work and perform jobs that were traditionally jobs for men. She becomes the first female diver—an incredibly dangerous occupation—repairing naval ships. Anna meets Dexter Styles at a nightclub and realizes that he is the man she visited with her father before his disappearance. Styles has ties to the mob and Anna begins to understand the complexity of her father's life.
The first section is smart, sharp, and brilliantly executed. Egan's writing is solid, exactly what you would expect. Then the novel makes one of many jumps in time and the story becomes scattered. There is a complete lack of harmony and the reader is left with a rambling narrative that is a mash-up of three stories. Hinging on boring at times, I didn't connect with the characters, or the plot, and this is disappointing because Egan has obviously done her homework.
