Set in southern Ontario during the 1980's, acclaimed poet Catherine Graham's debut novel is layered like the open-pit mine for which it is named. Caitlin Maharg, an only child, lives in a house by a water-filled limestone quarry whose gothic presence is elemental to the story.

With loving parents and what appears to be an idyllic upbringing, much has been kept from her and she learns that her mother is dying. But there are things Caitlin knows in a wordless way, the way she knows every inch of the quarry. By the time she's in her last year of university, her losses multiply. And when a series of family secrets emerges, Caitlin learns to rely on her inner strength. She gains the confidence she needs to confront her maternal grandmother and carry out her father's last wish.

Lyrically charged, jewelled with images and at times darkly comic, Graham's prose weaves a mysterious and hypnotic tale of loss, deception, family shame and the courage to swim the depths of life alone. (From Two Wolves Press)