"Lily feels both love for and embarrassment about her eccentric family: a grandmother with an imaginary friend, an ax-brandishing grandfather, a mother who brings home patients from the elder-care facility where she works, and an estranged older brother, Lonnie, who still can't seem to get his life together. In a series of implausibly coincidental events (Lonnie's girlfriend's mother also happens to be the random stranger who teaches his grandfather a lesson about racism, for example), all of the family members, and many with whom they come into contact, reach new understanding about themselves and their lives, and all make both small and large changes for the better. In the end, Lily realizes her dream: one "whole and perfect day," in which her entire family comes together and finds happiness. The third-person narration alternates among the many characters' experiences, offering the reader an omniscient view of interconnecting lives in a down-to-earth, Australian setting." (Source: Amazon)
