Helen prepares her spare room for her friend Nicola. She is coming to Melbourne to receive cancer treatment she believes will cure her. From the moment Nicola steps off the plane, Helen becomes her nurse, her protector, her guardian angel and her stony judge.Helen prepares her spare room for her friend Nicola. She is coming to Melbourne to receive cancer treatment she believes will cure her. From the moment Nicola steps off the plane, Helen becomes her nurse, her protector, her guardian angel and her stony judge. Winner of Barbara Jefferis Award 2009 and Queensland Premier's Literary Awards: Best Fiction Book 2008 and Victorian Premier's Literary Award - Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction 2008. Short-listed for Australian Literature Society Gold Medal 2009 and NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2009.