Adrienne Miller has been hailed as "one of the wittiest and most humane writers we have" by critically acclaimed author Dave Eggers. She makes a splash with this ambitious debut novel, a humorous tale of a dysfunctional family of eccentrics. It has been five years since famed artist Lowell Haven painted one of his gloriously narcissistic selfportraits. The estrangement of his daughter Merit is the main reason why. Now Lowell's partner Fergus hopes to lure Merit home by throwing an extravagant gala at the family's 65-room estate in Ohio.