'A gorgeous love story and a hilarious political novel about precarity and abuse in the era of late capitalism.' Neel Mukherjee, author of Man Booker Prize-shortlisted The Lives of Others 'Zink's confidence and authority as a writer are evident from Avalon's killer first sentences.' LA Times Bran's Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother abandons her and joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her 'common-law stepfather' on Bourdon Farms - a plant nurser ...