Bea Maxwell has been kissed only once and has never been in love. Apart from a stint away in Chicago, she has always lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin where she cares for her invalid mother. Mona Simpson charts Bea's solitary but self-possessed life and her relationships with her old friend, June, and the polio-afflicted Shelley. All three women's lives are linked through Bill, Bea's jazz-loving boss and the town cad. Off Keck Road is an exquisite novella that reminds us of the positive virtues of constancy and fidelity in a world driven by change, ambition and twists of chance. Any woman who has ever wondered at the course her life has taken, will discover truth and reassurance here.