Carol Heizer, the main character of Flying Away, finds herself, at age thirty-three, near the end of her tether. Married to a successful New York fashion photographer and mother of two children, aged eight and five, Carol is tormented with overwhelming doubts about the worth and meaning of her life, having squandered personal gifts and advantages of class. She considers herself an abject failure-as a creative professional, in her personal relations, and as a mother. But her biggest battle is with alcohol. Growing up in privileged circumstances in Hong Kong, daughter of a rising employee of the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company, she began drinking as a teenager, a frivolous pastime born of the leisure and boredom of life at the company compound at the "Peak" that eventually turned into a lifelong addiction.