Amazon.com description: Product Description: Seven years ago, Penny assisted in the suicide of her mortally wounded lover. Now, as she fights her own debilitating illness, she is haunted by her past and has entered a stasis in which she is incapable of emotional or sexual intimacy. As a way to break down the defenses she has built up in her safe Chicago life, she sets out on a cross-country bike tour. It is on this trip that she meets Ndele, a beautiful, mysterious black man who challenges her to confront her ghosts and decide whether to put her past behind her and live or succumb to the terrible uncertainties that plague even her dreams.