内容简介：
The common denominator of self-actualized, happy people, according to psychologist Abraham Maslow, is a close relationship with another person, and a career, avocation, or spiritual belief which afforded them inner peace or societal respect. This gave them a better ability to cope with tragedies. The heroine of The Redwood Deck is not self-actualized. When a fire assaults her California house just before Christmas, she must cope with it alone. The trauma causes her to review her life and mistakes she made concerning her children and former husband. Her flashbacks include water-skiing in Shasta and Folsom Lake; in court with her husband who absconds to avoid child support; Kara's trip to New York, to Southern Oregon cities, to the street of nightmares where she finds her son, and experiences with two psychotic men and normal ones as well as with attorneys. When her present tragedy mushrooms into worse problems, and her grown children become more heartache than help, she no longer has the strength to survive.