Christina Goering, eccentric and adventurous, meets the anxious but equally enterprising Mrs. Copperfield at a party. Two serious ladies who wish to live outside of themselves, they embark on a quest for salvation. Mrs. Copperfield visits Panama with her husband, finding solace among the women who live and work in its brothels, while Miss Goering engages with various men. At the end, the two women meet again, each transformed by her experiences.

Mysterious, profound, anarchic, and very funny, Two Serious Ladies is a daring, original work that defies analysis.

Lisa Edwards: This Prada-wearing magazine editor thinks her life is over when her "fabulous" new job turns out to be a deportation to Dublin to launch Colleen magazine. The only saving grace is that her friends aren't there to witness her downward spiral. Might her new boss, the disheveled and moody Jack Devine, save her from a fate worse than hell?

Ashling Kennedy: Ashling, Colleen's assistant editor, is an award-winning worrier, increasingly aware that something fundamental is missing from her life—apart from a boyfriend and a waistline.

Clodagh "Princess" Kelly: Ashling's best friend, Clodagh, lives the domestic dream in a suburban castle. So why, lately, has she had the recurring urge to kiss a frog—or sleep with a frog, if truth be told?

As these three women search for love, success, and happiness, they will discover that if you let things simmer under the surface for too long, sooner or later they'll boil over.

From Ivy Rowe's birth on Blue Star Mountain, her life is full of passion and longing as she writes letters to family and friends. Ivy's talent as a budding writer is recognized early on, but just as she is about to realize her dream of going north to school, she is betrayed by her passionate nature.

Facing an unwed pregnancy and publicly admonished for her sins, Ivy marries a childhood friend who takes her back to the family homestead, where she bears several children and endures the endless toil of a farmer's wife. Through her trials, Ivy holds firm, knowing that her life will hold happiness one day.