| Summary: |
On a summer afternoon in 1955 a jealous five-year-old girl named Cherry Ring bites her baby brother Pete on the cheek. She bites him so hard that Little Pete needs a skin graft to repair the damage and will have a scar for the rest of his life. Cherry knows what's she's done is wrong, and she really is sorry. But sorry isn't going to be good enough. The bite marks the beginning of a troubled relationship between the siblings that will last a lifetime. As Pete gets older he perfects an ability to completely ignore his sister. It scares Cherry, the way he looks right through her, and she chooses to leave him alone. Their mother, Nora, plays the role of the perfect suburban housewife, but there is a troubled darkness behind her beautiful façade. Cherry and Pete find out early just how deep Nora can sting. Cherry's father Murray is the one person she can count on. When he dies of a sudden heart attack when Cherry is nine years old, she doesn't feel safe anymore. Nora begins to date Dougwell Jones, and when Cherry is in university, Nora, Dougwell and Pete move to Vancouver. Cherry is left with the house and an small allowance from Murray's estate. Cherry isn't sorry to see Nora and Pete go. Her own life is beginning to come together. Two years after her family moves to Vancouver, Pete commits suicide. Somehow, Cherry isn't very surprised. It seems like just the kind of thing her strange brother would do. But she regrets not having been able to reconcile with him. Now she never will. When Nora dies twelve years later, Cherry is alone in the world. She's inherited the house, and she's writing a column for the Winnipeg Free Press, which together with the money she still receives from her inheritance from Murray, takes care of her needs. All in all, she's pretty happy with her life. Suddenly, strange things start happening around her house. And when she sees someone who looks a lot like Pete lurking around her yard, she gets scared. Luckily, Frank Foote, that nice police inspector, lives in the neighbourhood. |
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