Main Characters and Setup

Euphemia “Effie” Andrews (sometimes Stuart‑Murray) — She’s a 21‑year‑old student at the University of Dundee in 1972. Effie is disorganized, living with Bob (her somewhat apathetic, stoned‑boyfriend type), failing to turn in essays, avoiding lectures, etc.

Nora — Effie’s mother (or at least the woman who raised her). Their relationship is distant, secretive, and full of stories and half‑truths. Effie suspects Nora may not have told her everything—especially about her parentage.

Key Plot Points

Effie visits her mother Nora, who has taken refuge on a remote, weather‑beaten Scottish island, in a crumbling ancestral house. Effie hopes to draw from Nora answers about her background—who her father is, whether Nora is really her mother, whether what she’s been told is true.

Effie also tells stories—of her college life (with Bob, odd roommates, assignments, creative writing classes); of her creative writing projects (including a murder mystery); of what she imagines or fears; and of various literary experiments, parodies, and snippets of other people’s writings. The narration is often self‑aware, playful, unreliable.

There are strange, possibly sinister elements: Effie feels she’s being followed; there are rumours of murders at a retirement home; hints that something more is going on under the humour and absurdity. Also, a mysterious yellow dog features in the narrative as a recurring motif.