On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive—and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.

潔塔．卡爾頓 (Jetta Carleton)

美國作家，畢業於密蘇里大學，一九六三年獲選為年度詩人。當過教師，也曾在紐約當過廣告寫手。一九九○年與丈夫遷居新墨西哥州聖塔菲，經營「閃電樹」出版社。一生中唯一出版的《夜牽牛的秘密》，成為歷久不衰的經典之作，被譽為與《飄》、《梅岡城故事》、《咆哮山莊》、《白鯨記》和《尤里西斯》……相提並論的美國文學經典。