Alice Adrift

A woman’s journey to find her way in the wake of a profound loss.

It’s the late ‘90s. Alice Fisher is a composer and music professor. She lives with her husband David and their son Toby in a charming bungalow on a tree-lined street in the upper Northwest quadrant of Washington DC, home to an urbane mix of journalists, academics and professionals. But, years ago, their seemingly perfect existence was shattered by the loss of Toby’s younger brother, and they’ve yet to find their bearings.

Toby is obviously struggling, so Alice and David move him to an alternative school with a baffling curriculum (“They don’t even teach reading, Mom.”) and a peculiar set of rules (“Absolutely no television!”). Alice doesn’t seem to fit in there, but David is drawn to everything about the place, including, Alice ultimately realizes, one of Toby’s teachers, the striking woman with the long, tangled red hair. When Alice grows suspicious, David insists it’s nothing. “It’s nothing,” she tells herself. But ultimately David moves out. And when a group of young musicians move in next door, Alice finds herself drawn to them, which sets her further off kilter, and takes her in new directions.

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