Snow in July

the long version

Erin Mulcahy has grown up in her older sister Meghan's shadow: not quite as pretty, smart, or dynamic. Just as Erin is on the verge of fulfilling her dream of going away to art school, Meghan, a single mother with a five-year-old daughter and an infant, roars back into their home town of Butte, Montana, in the midst of a summer snowstorm. Erin must put her plans on hold. Meghan, still beautiful and magnetic, is addicted: to men, drugs, and danger. She is the world's "most frequent flier," taking her children, Erin, and their widowed mother along for a turbulent ride that is by turns darkly humorous and harrowing. Meghan promises once again to reform, but can she be believed? Or is it up to Erin and her mother to give the children the only safe haven they've ever known?--From publisher description.