Passionate, hypnotic and dangerous - a siren song of a novel about a daughter and her mother. White Oleander is a painfully beautiful first novel about a young girl growing up the hard way. It is a powerful story of mothers and daughters, their ambiguous alliances, their selfish love and cruel behavior, and the search for love and identity. Astrid has been raised by her mother Ingrid, a headstrong poet, a free spirit given to pronouncements who wilfully neglects her daughter and overlooks her motherly duties. Astrid forgives her everything: her world revolves around this beautiful creature. Then Ingrid murders a former lover and is imprisoned for life. And Astrid begins her journey.